LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



S8S- 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



1 



PRESENTED BY THE 

HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY 

OF THE 

CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, 

533 Arch Street. 

with compliments of 



.sJ^...d^.zfe: 



SEMI-CENTENNIAL 

(1835-1885). 



FIFTY YEARS' WORK 

IX THE 

"SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL, EELIEF OF THE POOR, 
AND CARE OF DESTITUTE CHILDREN," 

BY THE 

HOME MISSIONAEY SOCIETY OF THE 
CITY OF PHILADELPHIA 

(533 ARCH STREET). 



COMPILED AXD EDITED BY 



HENRY E. D WIGHT, M.D., D.D. 



Give an account of thy stewardship." — Luke xvi. 2. 



„ NOV 27 188 

IX TED BY ^n^ Ct 



J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, 

PHILADELPHIA. 
1885. 






1' 



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Copy] 



k^t, iooy, Oy HENRY E. DwTGH 



WASBMisj©iofflr 




MEMORANDA. 



The following resolutions were passed by the Board 
of Managers. 

RESOLUTION IN JUNE (1885). 

At the stated meeting of the Board of Managers of the Home Mis- 
sionary Society of the City of Philadelphia, in June (1885), on motion 
of Mr. Andrew H. Miller, it was 

Resolved, " That, as this is the Semi-Centennial of the H. M. S., 
Dr. Dwight he requested to write an Historical Sketch of this Society, 
describing the theory and methods of our work and its results during 
Fifty Years in Philadelphia." 

Carried. 

RESOLUTION IN OCTOBER (1885). 

At the stated meeting of the Board of Managers of the H. M. S., 
in October (1885), on motion of Mr. Eben C. Jayne, it was 

"Resolved, That this Board of Managers will meet at 1302 North 
Broad Street, at 8 p.m., October 27, 1885, to hear the Historical 
Sketch of the H. M. S., prepared at our request, by Dr. Dwight." 

Carried. 

RESOLUTION PASSED OCTOBER 27, 1885. 

At an adjourned meeting of the Board of Managers, at which 
nearly all the members were present, held at the residence of Mr. 
Eben C. Jayne, No. 1302 North Broad Street, October 27, 1885, on 
motion of the Hon. Judge W. B. Hanna, D.C.L., it was 

" Resolved, That the thanks of the Board of Managers of the H. M. 
S. are hereby tendered on behalf of the Society to Dr. Dwight for his 
able and interesting Historical Address, which we have heard with so 
much pleasure and profit, and that a copy be requested for publica- 
tion." 

Carried. 



CONTENTS. 



Memoranda 3 

Preface 7 

CHAPTER I. 

Origin of the H. M. S. — Aims of its Founders. — The Four Spheres. — 
Its Twelve Districts.— The Mustard-Seed.— Rapid Growth. — Rev. J. 
Woolson. — First Fruits.— Success in the 3d, 4th, and 10th Districts. — 
Rev. John Hersey.— Old Southwark in 1844.— Rev. John Street.— 127 
Old York Road. — Mission-Schools. — In Labors more abundant. —Great 
Harvest. — Taylor's Alley. — Edwin Forrest. — Scenes in a Ball-room. — 
Five Churches in Ten Years. — Difficulties overcome. — More Light at 
Many Points. — Boat-Racing at Fairmo'unt. — Panic in 1837. — Old Red 
Cents scarce. — Riots at Pennsylvania Hall and " The Shelter for Or- 
phans." — The "Susquehanna" and its Corsair. — 1835-45, the Era of 
Riots. — Conflicting Views. — Rev. Thomas G. Allen. — The " Benevo- 
lent" Society. — " In-Door" and " Out-Door" Relief. — Method of Social 
Science. — The Founders cling to the Gospel 9 

CHAPTER II. 

A New Departure. — 1845. — New Faces at the Anniversaries. — Dr. Mc- 
Dowell and Dr. John Chambers at the Central Presbyterian Church. — 
George H. Stuart a Manager in 1846. — 819,000 and Seven Missionaries 
in 1855. — Increase in the care of Destitute Children. — In Six Years 
1000 Children placed in Homes. — Mission-Schools largely augmented. — 
New Sites for Trade and Residence. — " Swamppoodle." — Its Mission- 
School. — A Type of 125 Others — Real Evangelism in Large Cities. — 
Many of the Schools now Self-supporting Churches. — Example of the 
Apostle Paul. — Some Facts about New York. — What became of 
"Swamppoodle"? — Some Churches once Mission-Schools. — The Vi- 
dettes at the Front. — Felix Neff. — Emanuel H. Toland. — A Leaf from 
their Note-Books. — Barbarism in Philadelphia. — How much was Real 
Estate worth in Sodom ? — Missionary among Newsboys and Boot-blacks. 
— Scene in the Old Court-House on Sixth Street. — A Mutual Surprise 
in a Union Car 20 

CHAPTER III. 

Theory and Methods of Relief. — Are the Poor Worthy ? — By Committees. 
— No Complex Machinery. — The Master's Example. — Evangelization 
of Great Cities. — Christ or Belial ! — Must we become Barbarians ? — Re- 
sponsibility of the Founders. — Our Title. — Home-Mission-Society. — 
Biblical Authority. — Bible with a Loaf of Bread. — Committee on Office. 
— Duties they Perform. — Scenes they Witness. — Facilities at their Dis- 
posal. — Passive Virtues in Women. — " Committee on Supplies." — Coal 
and Groceries. — Bibles and Meal-Tickets. — The Swiss. — Their Expe- 
rience and Example. — "Committee on Finance." — The Treasury never 
Empty. — Care of Trust Funds. — Sansom Street Explosion in 1867. — 
"Metropolis Committee." — Tenth Ward Fund. — Peter Cullen. — Bald- 
win's Locomotive Works. — Thomas H. Powers. — Anniversary and 
Public Meetings. — Funds from the Churches. — Rev. Dr. H. A. Board- 
man. — Glorious Reunions. — Rev. Dr. Charles A. Wadsworth. — Cottage 
Meetings. — Examples of their Power 32 

5 



b CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 

PAGE 

Methods of Work. — Committee on Publication and Printing. — The First 
Printer in the Middle Colonies. — Annual Reports, in Four Octavo Vol- 
umes. — The H. M. S. "Quarterly.'' — Testimonials to its Power. — Com- 
mittee on Legacies. — Their Duties. — Amount in Fifty Years. — Case of 
Mary J. R.— Value of her Bequest.— The Circle of this Trinity, Sick- 
ness, Death, and Burial. — Great Epidemics. — John the Baptist and the 
Messiah. — Epitome of our Work. — Burial of the Worthy Poor. — Why? 
— Correspondence with Cemetery Companies. — A Prize ($2000) drawn 
in Mount Moriah Cemetery ......... 47 

CHAPTER V. 
Our Wards. — What is " Home" without the Children ? — Our Founders 
began this Work. — One Thousand Children placed in Homes prior to 
I860.— Immense Scope of this Department. — Somebody must care for 
them. — Some too Poor or too Vicious to care for their own. — Such Pro- 
vision essential to Large Cities. — Evils of the Asylum Plan. — George 
Heriot's Hospital. — Christ's Method. — Their First Estate. — Their 
Value to Society. — Statistics of Pauperism, Ignorance, and Crime. — 
Herbert Spencer. — His View. — Religious Element in Education. — Ex- 
perience of Penitentiaries. — Girard College. — Daniel Webster. — Hon. 
Joel Jones. — Our Method of Indenture. — That "New Light." — Chris- 
tian Chanty. — Emanuel Wichern. — The "Rauhe Haus." — The Impor- 
tance of the Family. — In 1874, Charter enlarged. — Full Powers granted. 
— The Street Arabs. — Often from the Worst Slums. — The Glorious 
Change. — Examples .......... 56 

CHAPTER VI. 

Review. — The First Decade. — Struggle for Existence. — Second Decade. — 
Evangelism with Distribution. — Third Decade. — Our Bounds enlarged 
and Stakes strengthened. — Fourth Decade. — Large Fortunes and Abun- 
dant Means. — Fifth Decade. — A Vigorous Struggle for Biblical Charity. 
— The late Henry Disston, a Beloved Manager and Shrewd Observer. — 
His Interest in our Work among Workmen. — The Christian Scheme vs. 
" Materialism." — The H. M. S. vs. " Communism."— The Bible's Esti- 
mate of the Dignity of Labor. — Cottage Prayer-Meetings vs. Infidel Agi- 
tators. — Scriptural Warnings to Masters. — And Instructions to their 
Workmen. — Mr. Disston's Liberality. — Capital and Labor both friendly 
to the H. M. S. — How we reach Employers and the Employed. — The 
Founders' Position. — Impregnable because Evangelical. — Summary of 
Fifty Years. — Our Confidence in the Result. — Two Reasons : 1. We 
have found favor with God ; II. The Spirit of the Age favors our Work. 
— Final Appeal ........... 66 

APPENDIX. 

Constitution (1835) . .73 

Officers of the Home Missionary Society in 1835 . . 77 

Constitution (1885) 78 

Officers and Board of Managers, 1885 . . . . - .82 

Standing Committees of the Board, 1885 ....... 83 

Officers and Managers, 1835 to 1885 84 

Our Missionaries : their Career and their Offices . . . . .89 
Anniversary Speakers from 1835 to 1885 ....... 93 

In Memoriam 95 

Testimony of the Press . . . . . . . . . . 97 

Voices from the Pulpit . . . . . . . . • .100 



PREFACE. 



A voluntaky Society. of many contributors, repre- 
sented by a Board of Managers who are members of 
the learned professions or engaged in the pursuits of 
trade, have distributed as friends of the poor over 
half a million of dollars in Philadelphia since 1835. 
" For the spread of the Gospel, relief of the poor, and 
care of destitute children," they have assisted in the 
organization of over a hundred and twenty-five mission- 
schools, most of which are now evangelical churches, 
distributed often from ten to twenty tons of food an- 
nually, dispensed in fifty years 4000 to 5000 tons of 
coal, and placed in Christian families over 3000 chil- 
dren. Such a Society have cause to give an account 
of their stewardship to their fellow-citizens in Phila- 
delphia. 

The Board of Managers, to meet this desire, so gen- 
erally expressed, by a formal resolution in June (1885), 
requested the Editor to prepare an Historical Sketch of 
the Home Missionary Society of the City of Philadel- 
phia since its origin, describing the field of its opera- 
tions, the theory and methods of its w T ork, with the 
results accomplished by the blessing of God on its 
labors, for permanent preservation. This involved 
careful researches into the reports and records kept by 
the Recording and Corresponding Secretaries, with 

7 



8 PREFACE. 

various MSS. now in the vaults of the Provident Life 
and Trust Company, the current history of similar in- 
stitutions in Philadelphia and elsewhere, a thorough 
insight into the aims and plans of the founders, their 
work, the obstacles they overcame, the means at their 
disposal, and the results accomplished before incorpo- 
ration. 

More than this was needed properly to perform the 
task assigned to the Editor : an intimate acquaintance 
with the various departments of the complex work of 
the Society since 1845 ; the spirit and character of its 
leaders, some of them the ablest and most prominent 
of our citizens ; the problems which occupied their de- 
liberations, so important to the citizen, the statesman, 
and the philanthropist; the conduct of the Society 
amid events of the deepest interest to Philadelphia; 
the principles of truth and duty discovered and illus- 
trated by them, which lie at the foundation of Our 
evangelical churches and of society itself; all these 
have deserved and received careful study and reflec- 
tion. 

If he has been successful in this attempt to comply 
with the resolution of the Board while compiling this 
historical narrative, the Editor submits the result of 
these researches to the contributors and the public 
generally for their careful consideration. 

H.E.D. 



CHAPTER L* 

Origin of the H. M. S. — Aims of its Founders. — The Four Spheres. 
— Its Twelve Districts. — The Mustard-Seed. — Rapid Growth. — 
Rev. J Woolson. — First Fruits. — Success in the 3d, 4th, and 10th 
Districts. — Rev. John Hersey — Old Southwark in 1844 — Rev. 
John Street — 127 Old York Road. — Mission-Schools. — In Labors 
more abundant. — Great Harvest. — Taylor's Alley. — Edwin For- 
rest. — Scenes in a Ball-room. — Five Churches in Ten Years. — 
Difficulties overcome. — More Light at Many Points.— Boat-Racing 
at Fairmount. — Panic in 1837. — Old Red Cents scarce. —Riots at 
Pennsylvania Hall and " The Shelter for Orphans." — The " Sus- 
quehanna" and its Corsair. — 1835-45, the Era of Riots. — Conflict- 
ing Views. — Rev. Thomas G. Allen. — The " Benevolent" Society. 
— " In-Door" and " Out-Door" Relief. — Method of Social Science. 
— The Founders cling to the Gospel. 

The Federal Union of this nation (1789) had not 
reached its semi-centennial when this H. M. Society 
was organized. In the autumn of 1884 several young 
men of the Union and St. George's M. E. Churches, in 
Philadelphia, met together for Home Missionary work. 
Of these all are known by name, and several are still 
with us. One was absent in South America for three 
years, and did not become an active worker until his 
return, when he served as the Agent and Missionary of 
the Society for more than eighteen years. 

In 1835 their Society was organized as the " Home 
Missionary Society of the M. E. Church for the City 
and County of Philadelphia." Their object was, as the 



* The reader of the following pages, who may be interested in the bibliography of the subject, is 
referred to the following authorities as illustrating and enforcing the views expressed therein: 

"The Home Missionary Society's Miscellan}-," in the vaults of the " Provident Life and Trust 
Company,'" Annual Reports of the II. M S.. l8:;5-l «*.">. Stevenson's "Praying and Working." 
W. F. Craft's " Evangelism of Cities," Joseph Cook's "Importance of Cities," Wit-hern's "Die 
Innere Mission,' Reports of State Charities, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, 1800-1881. 



10 THE FOUR SPHERES. 

2d Article of the Constitution, still in existence, states, 
" To promote the extension of the Redeemer's king- 
dom, by means of preaching, prayer, and exhortation, 
and by the establishment of Sabbath-schools, distribu- 
tion of Bibles, Testaments, Tracts, and other Books of 
a religious nature." 

There are four spheres in which the Home Mission- 
ary Society of Philadelphia has shown its usefulness 
during half a century. These are the Family, the 
School, the State, and the Church. Each of them is 
engaged in training the individual for happiness and 
holiness when permeated with, true piety. Our found- 
ers started their organization on this basis. They 
divided "the whole peninsula, now called Philadel- 
phia, from League Island to Tacony, and from the 
Delaware to the Schuylkill, into twelve districts for 
Mission work," and then adopted the following reso- 
lution : 

"Believing the cause of Home Missions to be of 
considerable benefit to the inhabitants of our suburbs, 
and that the general knowledge of this Society would 
be of benefit to it, we will print our Report and freely 
distribute it." Collections, donations, and subscrip- 
tions amounted to $60.10. 

In 1839 the sum received was $413.24. The small 
seed of 1835 had increased seven-fold, till it had be- 
come quite a mustard-tree. "We rejoice to find," 
they report, " upon reference to our records, that our 
labor has not been in vain, but much fruit has come 
forth from the seed sown." In the districts Nos. 1, 2, 
and 3, " supplied by one committee, a regular meeting 
for religious services, several conversions, 4000 Testa- 
ments and tracts distributed." No. 4, " a Sabbath- 



THE MUSTARD-TREE. 11 

school with 63 children and 13 teachers, with conver- 
sions." Nos. 5 and 6 " have a fine Sabbath-school in 
Rittenhouse Street near Twenty-first Street, Several 
conversions, joining Nazareth M. E. Church. Two 
departments : I. scholars over nine years of age ; 250 
volumes in the library; II. infant school, average 
attendance, 101; library, 322 volumes; 25 teachers." 
In ISTo. 10 the school was on Poplar Lane (now Poplar 
Street) near Fifth, " with 150 children and 19 teachers. 
Prayer-meetings signally owned and blessed in the con- 
version of many precious souls," distributing " 88,133 
pages of tracts and religious books, beside Bibles and 
Testaments." Their Missionary, Rev. J. Wbolson, 
in one year officiated " at 35 funerals, baptized 38 in- 
dividuals, and visited 2276 families, beside attending 
religious services at the Almshouse every Sabbath a.m. 
and p.m., with monthly concerts in succession in the 
different churches, bringing thereby to the Society 
more than 100 annual subscribers, beside several life 
subscriptions." 

In 1841 they report " five Sabbath-schools in suc- 
cessful operation for a long time;" these eventually 
became churches. The school in the 3d District " had 
130 scholars, library, 300 volumes, with a Dorcas 
Society for clothing the children and aiding them with 
bodily sustenance." In the 4th District there were 
" 65 scholars with twelve children in the school." In 
the 6th District, " school over 100 scholars, with two 
departments, 500 volumes in the library in good con- 
dition, with two missionaries to preach the word and 
labor for souls." The 10th District " was remarkably 
blessed, for in two years and a half it had grown to 
258 scholars, 43 teachers, and over 600 volumes in the 



12 BODILY RELIEF RAPID GROWTH. 

library. A powerful revival of religion gathered in 
160 souls as church members," and in 1841 " thirty 
scholars and four adults (parents) professed Christ 
before men." That year (1841) the Society procured 
the services of Rev. John Hersey as their Missionary, 
and the permission was obtained from the civil authori- 
ties of South wark " to hold meetings in the public 
streets, markets, and such places as were convenient 
for public worship." By such means " Southwark and 
the other districts — where they subsequently secured 
similar permission — were prepared to cope with the 
riots which occurred in 1844." 

The Missionary, Rev. John Street, in his report for 
1842, says: " The poor from almost every part of the 
city seek my residence. An old lady in Swan son Street, 
near the Navy- Yard, who can scarcely walk, hobbled to 
my house (127 Old York Road) for relief." He had 
thus early commenced a system of general relief. 
These young men had the common sense to see that 
their success depended on careful observance of the 
2d Table of the Decalogue, and of the Sermon on the 
Mount. In the 8th Article of the Constitution they 
state " that the Home Missionary of the Conference, 
being appointed by the Bishop of the M. E. Church, 
shall be one of the Managers." Having divided the 
city into twelve districts, with a committee for each, 
they urged "parents to send their children to Sunday- 
school, and if encouragement was given, they prom- 
ised that they would establish such schools under the 
direction of the Board." This was the germ of that 
extensive work among children which has so endeared 
the Home Missionary Society to thousands of families 
in Philadelphia. 



THE OFFICERS THEIR DUTIES. 13 

Of this Society J. "W. Thomas was President; George 
Louden schlager, Vice-President; C. P. Fessenden, Re- 
cording Secretary; Orrin Rogers, Corresponding Sec- 
retary; and T. K Peterson, Treasurer. In 1843, S. W. 
Cade was elected President. From 1838 till 1839, Rev. 
J. Woolson served as Missionary, " when he resigned 
for want of support." In March, 1841, "Rev. Jno. 
Hersey began his labors, but resigned in the same year 
(July) for a similar reason." In April, 1842, Rev. John 
Street " was recognized by the Conference as the Mis- 
sionary at $50 per month, if he could collect his 
salary." He served the Society till 1859, when the 
Managers placed on record "that he had been a most 
able and faithful Agent and Missionary for more than 
eighteen years in their service." 

The duties of these devoted men while the Society 
was principally engaged in evangelistic labors were 
not confined to visiting the poor, distributing tracts, 
and holding religious conversation. They had their 
various " preaching appointments." In the spring and 
summer they spoke on board vessels, along the wharves, 
in the market-houses, or wherever they could gather a 
congregation remote from a church, "Between the 
hours of public worship in the churches, they were 
accompanied by some of the members of the Board 
of Managers, who assisted them in singing, distribu- 
tion of tracts, and leading the assembly in prayer." In 
the annual report for 1843 the Managers say, " To re- 
count all the good it has pleased the Lord to do by 
these twelve committees would be impossible, and the 
Board would merely state that hundreds have been 
brought into the fold of the Great Shepherd who, but 
for their efforts, might have been eternally lost. They 



14 taylor's alley — union in 1845. 

have established five permanent Sabbath-schools in the 
most neglected parts of our city, which are now in a 
nourishing condition." 

In Taylor's Alley, out of Second Street below Chest- 
nut Street, there was a ball-room, which Edwin For- 
rest, the tragedian, used for rehearsals, and which 
became at night one of the most notorious dens of 
iniquity in Philadelphia. There meetings were held, 
and over one hundred persons were converted to God 
during a single season. In those meetings Rev. Mr. 
Street was assisted by Rev. Dr. Castle, Rev. Dr. Ken- 
nedy, and Caleb Lippencott. Among the converts 
the missionary names of Messrs. E. I. D. Pepper and 
W. H. Brisbane, who for thirty years filled some of 
the most prominent pulpits in Philadelphia. 

Those faithful workers thus banished from that 
neighborhood the depravity and wickedness which in- 
fested it, " raised $3000 in 1843, and $4000 in 1844, to 
spread the Gospel and relieve the poor," and then, 

WITH A NOBLE LIBERALITY, MADE THEIR BOARD OF MAN- 
AGERS " A REPRESENTATIVE UNION OF ALL EVANGELICAL 
DENOMINATIONS IN 1845." 

While preaching at Fairmount it was resolved " to 
take up a lot on ground-rent in Callowhill between 
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Streets," and the work 
commenced. Appeals were made by the Missionary, 
Rev. Mr. Street, and a considerable sum was collected. 
The church was commenced in September, and com- 
pleted about the end of the year. The lot was " 42 by 
100 feet deep." Dimensions of the church, " 36 by 50 
feet, and built of brick," in a substantial manner. 
The " total cost of the Bethlehem Mission-House was 
$1700, collected by the Missionary, without interfer- 



EMORY AND SANCTUARY CHURCHES. 15 

mg- with the charitable aid contributed for the needy 
and destitute." This is now known as Emory M. E. 
Church, Callowhill Street below Nineteenth Street. 

The meetings held at Mission Hall, Front Street 
above Noble, were remarkably successful. There the 
Gospel was regularly preached and blessed of God. 
In one season " over one hundred were brought into 
the church ;" in another, " over sixty professed Christ" 
within the walls of that plain and unpretending build- 
ing. During nine years, while they occupied that sail- 
loft, " many hundreds were united with the different 
churches." Yet another illustration of the power of 
the Gospel was seen in the Elizabeth Street Church, 
above Parrish Street, from which went forth the Sanc- 
tuary M. E. Church, Fifth Street near Girard Avenue, 
the fruit of the devoted labors of these lay preachers. 

Let us notice some of the difficulties which our mis- 
sionaries encountered during the interval from 1835 
to 1845, or from the organization till the incorporation 
of the Home Missionary Society. The following facts, 
from the current history of the times, will illustrate 
the social and moral condition of Philadelphia in the 
first decade of our history. This city evidently needed 
more light at that time in several forms and on many 
subjects. For this purpose the Gas Trust was created 
by Councils, and loans were issued with a trustee- 
guarantee, which had to be maintained until this year 
of grace 1885. Hence the semi-centennial of the Gas 
Trust is synchronous with that of the Home Mission- 
ary Society. 

In September, 1835, boat-racing on the Schuylkill 
was inaugurated while our earlier missionaries were 
starting Sabbath-schools at Fairmount. Such craft as 



16 BOAT-RACING — RIOTS — PANIC. 

the " Sylph," the " Cleopatra," and the " Blue Devil" 
were cutting the waves for prizes on the Sabbath while 
the missionaries were preaching Christ to the children. 
In 1836 the Pennsylvania Legislature incorporated the 
United States Bank as a State institution, after it had 
been vetoed as a national institution by President Jack- 
son. This proved a failure, and produced the financial 
crisis of 1837. Trade was paralyzed. The banks sus- 
pended. Thousands were without employment. Over 
300 mercantile insolvencies occurred. Even the old 
red cent was scarce, and savings-banks issued five-cent 
notes. Prices fell, and there was universal panic and 
disaster. But the Home Missionary Society continued 
its blessed work. 

The low state of public morals is well illustrated by 
the events of 1837. Towards evening on the 17th of 
May crowds began to assemble around Pennsylvania 
Hall, at Sixth and Haines Streets, below Pace. The 
managers of the building became alarmed and closed 
the doors, handing the keys to Mayor Swift. Then 
the crowd began to batter down the doors, and the 
mayor with the police sought to penetrate the crowd 
of rioters, but no citizens came to their assistance. 
Within the building three fires were kindled. The 
firemen who repaired to the scene were not allowed to 
use their engines; the flames were furious, and the 
destruction complete. For ten years afterwards, within 
a block of the Home Missionary Society's office, the 
blackened walls of Pennsylvania Hall showed how low 
the moral sentiment of Philadelphia had fallen in 1837. 
The next evening the " Shelter for Colored Orphans," 
an asylum conducted by the Society of Friends, was 
attacked by the rioters, who sought to vent their spleen 



THE SUSQUEHANNA — "a CORSAIR." 17 

on helpless children. Here resistance was made, and 
the building was saved. At Harrisburg, the capital of 
the State, during the same year, the Buckshot War, 
though speedily terminated, did not prevent the spirit 
of misrule everywhere prevalent. 

One morning in October, 1838, Philadelphia was 
startled by the news that the ship " Susquehanna," 
belonging to " Cope's Liverpool Line," and carrying 
several well-known and respectable citizens, with a 
valuable cargo, had been captured by a "long, low, 
black schooner filled with pirates." At once public 
meetings were held, and revenue-cutters, sloops, and 
United States vessels all went in pursuit; men were 
arrested and then discharged for their suspected com- 
plicity in the outrage. The city evidently needed more 
lio-ht in regard to that low, black schooner, but there 
was no telegraph or ocean cable, and all the vessels 
returned without information. After three months, 
news arrived that the " Susquehanna" was at Liver- 
pool, and that on her passage out she had signalled 
an oyster-boat to supply her with shell-fish off Five- 
Fathom Bank. That corsair was an oyster-boat. 
What anxieties, mental suffering, and grief arose 
among those 150,000 inhabitants fifty years since for 
want of reliable information as to truth and duty ! 
And why should I refer to the riots amons; the negroes 
in Lombard Street, from Fifth to Eighth, or those of 
the Irish coal-beavers on the Schuylkill, or the weavers' 
riot in Kensington, or the Catholic riots in 1844? — all 
prior to the incorporation of the Home Missionary 
Society, and all of which confirm the statement, " that 
the founders overcame great difficulties before its in- 
corporation, and that there was abundant reason in the 

2 



18 REV. T. G. ALLEN — BENEVOLENT SOCIETY. 

moral and social condition of Philadelphia for its 
organization." If any men should be called patriots, 
they deserve that title ! 

But they had to contend with bitter prejudices, even 
among nominally Christian people. As far back as 
1831 the true character of a charitable society and the 
permanent basis for its usefulness was a subject for 
discussion in Philadelphia. This is well illustrated by 
the relation which the Rev. Thomas G. Allen, at that 
time an excellent young clergyman of the P. E. Church, 
sustained to the Philadelphia Benevolent Society, the 
first regularly organized charity work in Philadelphia. 
Having been formally invited by a committee of that 
Society " to accept the position as general agent, at 
$500 a year for three days' service each week," he de- 
clined. In his letter of declination, he writes to the 
committee as follows : "In taking leave of you, gentle- 
men, I would beg you to bear in mind that in vain will 
you look for any extensive or permanent moral results 
from your efforts unless they are made with an imme- 
diate reference to the influence of Gospel truth. In 
proportion as you lose sight of this principle and act 
independently of it, you may expect languor and in- 
efficiency to attend your efforts." That very summer, 
and no marvel, the Philadelphia Benevolent Society 
became extinct. If we accept the Gospel, we must 
accept its method of dealing with the poor. Our foun- 
ders saw this and clung to the Gospel. 

But there were some in that day who advocated the 
method of social science. From 1790 to 1834 it was a 
favorite theory in England, — doubtless the fruit of the 
French Revolution — that every man ought to make a 
living for himself and family, and if he could not do 



OUR FOUNDERS CLING TO THE GOSPEL. 19 

so, it should be furnished him from the " rates," or 
taxes, on land. This method crossed the Atlantic, and 
in this country took the form of " in-door" and " out- 
door" relief, to distinguish between that which is fur- 
nished to those in almshouses and the aid given at 
their own homes from the public funds. The social 
scientist said to our founders in 1835 : " Let alms-giv- 
ing be stopped, let poverty be discouraged. Pauperism 
has no rightful place in modern society. Poverty is 
a removable evil, and the poor are to be stimulated, 
not helped. They must be rescued from the imbecility 
into which compassion and alms-giving have thrown 
them. Alms-giving, in the form of money, food, or 
clothing, out of compassion to the poor, is a crime as 
well as a blunder." ~Now all such advice seemed to 
the founders of the Home Mission Society rank infi- 
delity, — the atheism of the French Revolution. They 
accordingly took Mr. Allen's advice, and, with the Bible 
in one hand and a loaf of bread in the other, went to 
work in earnest. Subsequently we shall learn how 
their works do follow them. 



CHAPTER II. 

A New Departure. — 1845. — New Paces at the Anniversaries. — Dr. 
McDowell and Dr. John Chambers at the Central Presbyterian 
Church.— George H. Stuart a Manager in 1846.— $19,000 and Seven 
Missionaries in 1855. — Increase in the Care of Destitute Children. 
— In Six Years 1000 Children placed in Homes. — Mission-Schools 
largely augmented. — New Sites for Trade and Eesidence. — " Swamp- 
poodle."— Its Mission-School. — A Type of 125 Others.— Eeal Evan- 
gelism in Large Cities. — Many of the Schools now Self-supporting 
Churches. — Example of the Apostle Paul. — Some Pacts about New 
York. — What became of " Swamppoodle" ? — Some Churches once 
Mission-Schools. — The Videttes at the Front.— Felix Neff.— Eman- 
uel H. Toland. — A Leaf from their Note-Books. — Barbarism in 
Philadelphia. — How much was Eeal Estate worth in Sodom ? — Mis- 
sionary among News-boys and Boot-blacks. — Scene in the Old 
Court-House on Sixth Street. — A Mutual Surprise in a Union Car. 

The year 1845 marks a new departure in the history 
of this Society. Previous to that year it was known 
as the Home Missionary Society of the M. E. Church. 
In 1843 a new element appears at the Anniversary. 
Rev. Dr. McDowell, pastor of the Central Presbyterian 
Church (Eighth and Cherry Streets), offered prayer: 
and the Rev. John Chambers, of the First Indepen- 
dent Church (Broad and Sansom Streets), made an ad- 
dress, in which he said " he did not recognize Rev. 
Mr. Street as the Missionary of the M. E. Church, but 
as the Missionary of Christ, and classes him with Rev. 
Mr. Allen, above referred to, as the two men who had 
accomplished more good among the poor than any 
other whom he knew in Philadelphia." 

In April, 1845, the new charter which had been 
20 



NEW CHARTER — 1845. 21 

granted by the Supreme Court was accepted. By this 
instrument the name of the Society was changed to 
that of the Home Missionary Society of the City and 
County of Philadelphia. As the City and County of 
Philadelphia are identical since 1854, the title is now 
restricted to the city alone. In 1845 the name of Col- 
son Heiskill, and in 1846 that of Mr. George H. Stuart, 
appear for the first time on its Board of Managers, and 
the revenue of the Society for 1847 amounted to $5649, 
or an increase of nearly §1500 in one year. 

The population of Philadelphia was now nearly 
300,000 inhabitants, and in 1850 its fifteenth annual re- 
port shows that the revenue of the Society had reached 
about §9000. This indicates a natural and healthy 
progress. The presidency of Mr. James I. Boswell 
closed in 1851, and Mr. Christian E. Spangler (Dutch 
Reformed Church) was elected to serve in that office 
till 1856. In 1854, Daniel M. Pox and Lewis Auden- 
reid were in the Board of Managers. During the year 
1855 the operations of the H. M. S. were remarkably 
enlarged. Nearly §19,000 were spent and over 7000 
families were relieved. Seven missionaries, three of 
whom were ordained clergymen, were constantly at 
work. Many mission-schools were established from 
1855 to 1865. Such names as Matthew E"ewkirk and 
Charles Santee appear among the Managers in 1856. 

We propose to notice the changes in the Home Mis- 
sionary Society of Philadelphia as they occurred, and 
the results accomplished under three general departments: 
I. The Spread of the Gospel ; II. The Relief of the 
Worthy Poor; III. The Care of Destitute Chil- 
dren. 

I. In the Spread of the Gospel. — What has been 



22 FAMOUS SITES — SWAMPPOODLE. 

accomplished by the Home Missionary Society of the 
City of Philadelphia, and how has the work been done ? 
Let me give an illustration of our work, and then 
enumerate its fruits in the city of Philadelphia. Let 
one example suffice. 

There are now eligible sites for residence and marts 
for trade in Philadelphia which formerly bore the 
familiar names of " Rotten Row" (Second and Tasker 
Streets), " Cow-town" (Eighteenth and Christian), 
"Smoky Hollow" (Front below Morris), "Dutch 
Row" (Fifth below Morris), " Goose-town" (Eigh- 
teenth and Clearfield), and " Green Hill" (Seventeenth 
and Thompson). These became habitable, and after- 
wards desirable for trade and residence, through mis- 
sion-schools, the harbinger of churches, which are now 
the strongholds of evangelical Christianity. 

One of our missionary agents was recently at 
" Swamppoodle." How many of our readers know its 
locality or ever heard the name ? Yet he has visited 
it so often that he is quite familiar with that portion of 
Philadelphia. In the northwest part of one of our 
suburbs, near the Smallpox Hospital, any one can now 
find this district, — well known formerly to the sanitary 
inspectors for the frequent violations of the laws of 
health, — where Mrs. C. B. had charge of a mission- 
school. Some one must have started that enterprise. 
The mind of man in its normal condition refuses to be- 
lieve that it started itself. In other days — those days of 
a primitive piety — some deacon, elder of a church, class- 
leader, or pious vestryman would have canvassed the 
neighborhood and gathered in the children, hired a room 
and secured furniture, enlisted the sympathy of teach- 
ers, and furnished books and papers for the scholars. 



JONAH AND PAUL IN CITIES. 23 

But in modern times such pioneer work is unfashion- 
able, because it does not suit the love of wealth and the 
pride of life. Some people prefer to do this work by 
proxy. Thirty years since it was evident that such enter- 
prises must be commenced by a responsible party, who 
under God would lead in the various enterprises. It 
was our opportunity, as a Society, for the spread of the 
Gospel. Our Missionary, who for years had been en- 
gaged in similar efforts, soon found the material, and 
secured not only scholars but teachers, and has pro- 
vided books for these struggling organizations, like 
that at " Swamppoodle." If any of our readers will 
make the trip to that district he will find the necessity 
for such an enterprise. 

There is a profound philosophy in attempting and 
securing the thorough evangelization of our large 
cities. Jonah was not sent to the villages of Assyria, 
but to its chief city, Nineveh. The greater portion of 
Paul's missionary life was spent in the cities of An- 
tioch, Ephesus, Corinth, and Rome, the great capitals 
of the Empire. In these centres of influence, all who 
were not Christians were called " pagans," which term, 
before the introduction of Christianity, meant villagers 
or countrymen. Most of our American Home Mis- 
sionary churches are built in towns or villages. There 
is in New York State a city of 50,000 inhabitants 
" where for twelve years there has not been an English- 
speaking Protestant church (and now but one), the only 
Protestant church having been one with German ser- 
vices." There are in the same State forty-seven cities 
of ten thousand inhabitants each, and each of these 
has but two Protestant churches, many of which are 
small and feebly supported. 



24 MISSION-SCHOOL AT SWAMPPOODLE. 

Our readers might find a two-story house at " Swamp- 
poodle," the first floor occupied by a Sabbath-school, 
where the older children are congregated. On the 
outside of the building the little ones climbed a stair- 
way to the second story, where the infant classes re- 
ceived their needful instruction. A marked impres- 
sion has been made on that benighted district. Men 
are not now so cautious about owning real estate in 
that vicinity. They are not afraid to live there, to go 
by night or day about their usual occupations, because 
of thieves or highwaymen. Such changes always fol- 
low in the train of mission-schools and churches. It 
has been our work to start such enterprises, watch 
over them during their struggles for existence, and 
then when these could stand alone, place them under 
tutors and governors till they were able to start in life 
for themselves. Is it not time to return to Pauline 
methods and imitate the Home Missionary Society? 

See how our cities grow. When the Federal Union 
of this nation commenced (1789) but four per cent, of 
its inhabitants were in cities ; in 1835, when our Society 
w T as organized, eight per cent. In 1885, our semi-cen- 
tennial anniversary, twenty-two out of every one hun- 
dred inhabitants are citizens. New York City can 
outvote any one of twenty States. There are only 
seventeen States which have a larger population than 
our commercial metropolis. Napoleon the Great said 
" Paris is France," but Philadelphia is not Pennsyl- 
vania, Still, its votes are influenced by demagogues 
and demijohns as in most cities. No wonder that the 
Home Missionary Society has secured the confidence of 
Philadelphia, because its Managers can point to many 
such light-houses as that at " Swamppoodle," estab- 



SCHOOLS WHICH BECAME CHURCHES. 25 

lishecl through its agents and missionaries during half 
a century. If the sceptre of power in this generation 
is to pass to the cities, it is well for Philadelphia that 
we began in 1835 to erect them. 

No one can be in doubt when such churches as 
Bethany and Tabor Presbyterian, Siloam and Spring 
Garden M. E. Churches, and Wharton Street Presby- 
terian are named, as to where these churches are, or 
what kind of influence they exert in Philadelphia. Yet 
in the early inception of the mission-schools from which 
they all sprang, missionary agents canvassed the dis- 
tricts, collected the scholars, secured the rooms, fur- 
nished the benches, books, and often the teachers, to 
carry on the infant enterprise. Their early history 
sounds like a romance. The Baptist Mariner's Bethel 
started in a cooper-shop; the Baptist Church, South 
Broad Street, corner- of Reed, in a public school-house, 
Federal above Eleventh Street. From such small be- 
ginnings arose the Episcopal Church, Twenty-eighth 
Street above Girarcl Avenue; the Baptist. Church, 
Frankforcl Road above York; Olivet Methodist, on 
the road to Bridesburg, above Alleghany Avenue; 
Aramingo M. E. Church, Frankford above Alleghany 
Avenue. In a similar way the Mantua Presbyterian 
Church, in Aspen Street, West Philadelphia, corner of 
Preston Street. From this enterprise the Belmont M. 
E. Church took their building after the Presbyterians 
left it for another, and formed a school, out of which 
has arisen the Belmont M. E. Church, or two churches 
from one planting, in the old mansion on Westminster 
Avenue. 

What strange places have seen the birth of some 
churches ! If our Divine Master was born in a manger, 



26 MOKE OF THE SAME KIND. 

is it strange that His churches should first see the li°;ht 
in out-of-the-way places? The Memorial Methodist 
Church, Eighth and Cumberland Avenue, was origi- 
nally organized in a public school-house ; Eden Meth- 
odist started in a ball-room, second story of a tavern; 
Cambria M. E. Church was organized under a tree, on 
Kensington Avenue ; the Eighteenth Street M. E. 
Church was organized as a mission-school in a lao;er 
beer saloon, second story, the owner himself giving the 
chairs for the children. Oh, what anxiety, what labors, 
in season and out of season, have not some of these 
managers and missionary agents- endured ! What ob- 
stacles overcome, that these vines might be planted in 
the vineyard of our Lord ! 

On the Darby Road at Greenw T ay a school was or- 
ganized in the public school-house. Mr. "W. C. Long- 
streth was its superintendent for a number of years, 
through whose instrumentality a building costing 
$12,000 was erected, in which is a lyceum, mothers' 
meeting, Sunday-school, and religious meetings. Why 
should we add others from this list of over one hun- 
dred and twenty-five mission-schools, and the churches 
which grew out of them ? The German Lutheran 
Church, Third and Columbia Avenue, originated in a 
bakehouse; the Twentieth Street M. E. Church was 
organized in the upper room over a bakery ; Hancock 
M. E. Church and Bethany School for Colored Chil- 
dren, Brandywine west of Fifteenth, were organized 
in a building previously occupied as a carpenter-shop ; 
North Broad Street Presbyterian, Oxford Street Pres- 
byterian, Greenwich Presbyterian, St. Matthew's Epis- 
copal, St. Peter's Lutheran, Scott M. E., Meadow, 
and Broad and Jackson Street M. E. Churches were 



FELIX NEFF — ALPINE MISSIONS. 27 

thus canvassed for, furnished with rooms, lights, fuel, 
books, and often with teachers, and sometimes with 
superintendents, through the assistance of one of our 
missionaries. Space would fail us to describe the 
origin of Trinity Reformed, of Epworth M. E. Church, 
between West Philadelphia and Haddington, Grace 
Presbyterian, or Olivet Presbyterian, Twenty-second 
and Mount Vernon Streets, or the Episcopal School of 
the Epiphany, Twenty-third below Race Street, or the 
Baptist, Twenty-third above Race Street; and yet let 
it not be forgotten that some of the men still live and 
walk the streets of Philadelphia whose hands were vis- 
ible at the planting of these vines, and, above all, that 
they are or have been missionaries or missionary agents 
of this Society, especially Rev. E. H. Toland. 

So much for those permanent structures which abide 
the changes of time. What shall I say of those skir- 
mishes which the videttes are carrying on at the front ? 

Among the most interesting of Missionary biogra- 
phies is that of Felix jSTeff. He labored in villages ; 
we work in a city. His pilgrimages were on foot, 
across mountain torrents and snow-drifts; we use 
railway-trains, street-cars, and omnibus-coaches. He 
climbed to Alpine hamlets, in rain or snow or sunshine, 
over rocks, amid the dangers of storm, or avalanche, 
or deep snow-drifts, mounting the slippery glacier 
which lay in his path, or cutting steps in the ice for 
the people to reach his chapel ; travelling to La Grave, 
far up among the Cottian Alps, almost inaccessible in 
winter. Such is the romance of the life of Felix ~NeW. 

What a contrast between it and that of our mission- 
ary agents ! And yet both they and Neff moved on the 
frontiers of civilization. There are heathens in cities 



28 REUNIONS — COTTAGE MEETINGS. 

as well as the country. Our men move from day to 
day through the streets and alleys of Philadelphia, 
holding their meetings in day-schools, cooper-shops, 
bar-rooms, and restaurants; yet the work is much the 
same on both sides the Atlantic. Neff termed his 
meetings reunions. These are our cottage prayer- 
meetings. In travelling he conversed with all he met 
by the wayside on the matters of eternity. Wherever 
he held a reunion he preached and expounded the 
Scriptures, seeking no ends of his own, simply point- 
ing men to Christ; not trying to found a sect, but al- 
ways co-operating with pastors, and supported by Chris- 
tian friends. His only regret was that such reunions 
were not held in everv hamlet throughout Switzerland. 

Our missionaries, like that noble standard-bearer of 
the Alps, press forward everywhere, over valley and 
mountain, through city and village, wherever oi^r chil- 
dren, taken from the slums of Philadelphia, — as the 
wards of the Home Missionary Society, — are nestling 
in the bosom of Christian households amid the popu- 
lation of three sovereign States, — New Jersey, Penn- 
sylvania, and Delaware, — together larger than France, 
and bear aloft the banner of the Gospel, carrying life 
on their mission. 

To read their note-books, to listen to their experi- 
ences, is even more thrilling than the journal of a 
traveller in the "land of the midnight sun," or the 
adventures of explorers in Arctic seas. Listen: " On 
such a day, at such a place, met a workman who has 
found Christ while reading 'James's Anxious Inquirer,' 
a loan to him after religious impressions received at 
one of our Conferences. He has now found Christ for 
himself. He must tell it or get it told to others. He 



A CAPITALIST WITH FUNDS. 29 

cannot rest until he has a meeting in his own house, 
and finds others equally anxious with himself. It is a 
fire in his bones, and he is ready to adopt as his motto, 
' Compel them to come in.' " 

It is high time to answer that man's letter. " Mr. 

, Agent H. M. S. : It is with the greatest respect, 

and at the desire of many in my neighborhood, that 
I send you these few lines to beg you to hold a meet- 
ing. I will pay for the lights and the room, and am 
sure that you will have a good attendance. ' Go into the 
streets and lanes, seek the maimed, and the halt, and 
the blind, and invite them to my supper.' All these are 
in this' vicinity." Y/hat a letter from a workman ! 
The writer was present at that meeting with our Mis- 
sionary Agent. That room, 15 by 12 feet, was indeed 
a Bethel, and that audience of twelve persons felt the 
power of the Gospel. 

It is in this way we seek to save certain districts of 
Philadelphia from Barbarism. A gentleman of large 
wealth and previous knowledge of our city was not 
long since on a visit to invest funds for certain trust 
companies in the Eastern States. At Philadelphia, 
while passing up one street and down another between 
the Delaware and Broad Street, he asked a friend, with 
earnestness, " Where are all the churches, most of 
which, when I was a boy, lay between Pine and Vine 
Streets, and between the Delaware and Broad Street ?" 
"But," replied his friend, "they have gone westward, 
or northward, or southward of the old city." "Are 
there no people left," continued the stranger, " in 
the Philadelphia of my boyhood, that I see so few 
churches ? Here are houses as aforetime, and plenty 
of people in the streets if there are none in the houses." 



30 REAL ESTATE IN SODOM. 

In view of all this desertion of large districts by evan- 
gelical Christianity and an earnest, enlightened pulpit, 
one church after another being sold to the highest bid- 
der, how long ere Philadelphia will equal Sodom, and 
how much was real estate worth in Sodom ? Will men 
invest trust funds in what promises to be a second 
Sodom ? Albert Barnes was accustomed to say " that 
churches are the best police stations which a city can 
have." They cultivate those moral influences which 
have been its safeguards, when schools, newspapers, 
and libraries fail. But if men will leave and then sell 
the churches, we must save the souls. 

Here has been our harvest. The Bible explained 
and enforced in cottage prayer-meetings, in school- 
houses, over bar-rooms, in tents, and by the wayside, 
has proved the power of God unto salvation to multi- 
tudes of believers. In a careful canvass of 8052 hands 
employed in the various industries in a portion of the 
old city, out of tens of thousands who live there, it 
was found that each received a trifle over $200 apiece 
yearly, — most of these were in their youth. Out of 
2462 mechanics in the same district, having families to 
support, the average wages were $600 annually. These 
said " that an elegant church was no place for them, 
and that they could not pay pew-rent." They found 
" that a back seat behind a big pillar was the only 
place for them, unless they went into the gallery." 
The parents said " they sent their children to Sunday- 
school because it cost nothing." Just here the Home 
Missionary Society, with its seven missionaries and 
twelve committees, heard the Macedonian cry from the 
old city of Philadelphia. For fifty years it has an- 
swered that cry with an expenditure sometimes of 



OLD COURT-HOUSE OX SIXTH STREET. 6 

$19,000 per annum, and with an active force of seven 
missionaries on the field. Notice a single example of 
their work. 

Some years since a missionary agent was asked to 
hold a meeting for newsboys in the court-house, corner 
of Sixth and Chestnut Streets. After canvassing the 
neighborhood he secured an audience. For several 
successive weeks these wild Arabs of the streets were 
brought together to hear the Gospel, receive tracts, 
and Biblical instruction. The scenes in that court- 
house defy description. No sooner are the newsboys 
fairly in possession than they mount the judges' bench, 
seize the insignia of office, play judge and jury, person- 
ating well-known attorneys, and contend for the liber- 
ation of some one of their number who plays the part 
of criminal in the dock. This travesty on justice ends 
with a shower of paper bullets. After months of pa- 
tient work the outcome is a " Newsboys' Home" where 
these untamed youth are carefully housed and supplied 
with all the comforts of life. 

But there is more to follow, as this narrative, among 
many such, will serve as a specimen. Recently, in a 
" Union" car, two gentlemen sat on opposite seats, one 
in citizen's dress, a well-known missionary agent of the 
Society, the other a stranger in uniform. As the latter 
sharply eyed the former the usual reserve was broken 
by the question, " Did you, sir, ever address the news- 
boys in the court-house on Sixth Street?" " Yes, sir," 
was the reply of the missionary. " Well, I am happy 
to state that your labors bore some fruit in my case. 
I have risen from a newsboy who sold the Ledger to 
a surgeon in the United States navy. You will never 
know how much I owe to you, sir." 



CHAPTER III. 

Theory and Methods of Relief.— Are the Poor Worthy?— By Com- 
mittees. — No Complex Machinery. — The Master's Example. — 
Evangelization of Great Cities. — Christ or Belial ! — Must we be- 
come Barbarians? — Responsibility of the Founders. — Our Title. — 
Home-Mission-Society. — Biblical Authority. — Bible with a Loaf 
of Bread. — Committee on Office. — Duties they Perform. — Scenes 
they "Witness. — Facilities at their Disposal. — Passive Virtues in 
Women. — " Committee on Supplies." — Coal and Groceries. — Bibles 
and Meal-Tickets. — The Swiss. — Their Experience and Example. — 
" Committee on Finance." — The Treasury never Empty. — Care of 
Trust Funds. — Sansom Street Explosion in 1867. — "Metropolis 
Committee." — Tenth Ward Fund. — Peter Cullen. — Baldwin's Lo- 
comotive Works — Thomas H. Powers. — Anniversary and Public 
Meetings. — Funds from the Churches. — Rev. Dr. H. A. Boardman. 
— Glorious Reunions. — Rev. Dr. Charles A. Wadsworth. — Cottage 
Meetings. — Examples of their Power. 

The charter, as granted by the Supreme Court, gives 
us power "to relieve the poor" in such manner as shall 
be provided by its by-laws, without regard to the re- 
ligious opinions of those who may have need of its aid. 

Let us notice briefly 

a. THE THEORY ON WHICH SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL 
RELIEF IS EXTENDED. 

In the successful conduct of a Society like ours we 
must not forget that there are views of truth too com- 
prehensive, arguments too subtle, and diction too elab- 
orate to be edifying to the common people. And are 
there no enterprises started by Christian liberality — 
charity organizations not excepted— too complicated in 
their machinery, or too various, multiform, and far- 
32 



33 

reaching, to be generally appreciated ? Hence the im- 
portance of a right theory on which to start the Society. 

From 1835 we have been strictly an evangelical asso- 
ciation designed for the diffusion of Christianity in 
accordance with the great commission, " Disciple all 
nations." For half a century we have been about our 
Master's business of evangelizing mankind in Phila- 
delphia. Why ? Because the same causes which trans- 
ferred the sceptre of civilization from the banks of the 
Nile and of the Euphrates to Western Europe must, 
ere long, carry them from the great cities of the At- 
lantic coast to the Amazon and the Pacific slope. 
Thoroughly evangelize our great cities through the 
family, the school, and the church, under Christian in- 
fluence and leadership, and the question will answer 
itself, To whom, Christ or Beelzebub, shall America 
belong ? It is the purpose of our Lord to elevate men in 
knowledge and intelligence. A community, like our 
city, which neglects this business is not serving Christ, 
but the Prince of darkness, and instead of propagating 
the Gospel and its attendant blessings, will soon become, 
if it is not already, a field for foreign missionary labor. 

The human mind in the humbler classes is rising 
and expanding with a degree of energy hitherto un- 
known. The mixed population from Europe on the 
West, and Asia on the East, which is pouring into 
these great cities of the Atlantic and Pacific seaboard, 
are not to be barbarians. We cannot stop this migration 
any more than we can stem the resistless tides of the 
sea. But we can take it by the hand as it reaches the 
shore, we can elevate and Christianize it, or else in the 
end we must become barbarians, Goths, Huns, or Van- 
dals, like our conquerors. How ? We can occupy the 

3 



34 TRIUMPH OF INFIDELITY. 

intellectual power and discipline of this community 
with spiritual subjects in some proportion to the atten- 
tion paid to secular knowledge. The Author of our 
nature and of Revelation requires of all classes of citi- 
zens — poor as well as rich — a share of the intellect as 
well as of the heart, and an undue direction of our talents, 
no less than of our affections, to this world, of necessity dis- 
qualifies men for faith. What a picture for a patriot ! 
This continent filled with powerful States, with more 
people than the earth now contains, and with a civiliza- 
tion higher than any which has preceded it, to become 
the embodiment of a learned and triumphant infidelity, 
a greater peril to the welfare of the race than other pos- 
sible evils which affect it. 

Hence the importance of the steps taken at the for- 
mation of the H. M. Society of Philadelphia, and the 
weighty responsibility assumed by those who enlarged its 
sphere. We have not yet reached the depth and extent 
of meaning in our name, " The Home Missionary So- 
ciety." Our founders did not think of it when they 
chose it. We have not yet understood the magnitude 
of the business we carry on, to bring the ever-in- 
creasing thousands in the humbler classes of Philadel- 
phia under evangelical influence, to the welfare of man 
and the glory of Grod. So much for the theory on 
which spiritual and physical assistance is extended by 
the Home Missionary Society. 

Let us now attend to 

b. THE METHOD OF DISPENSING IT. 

It seeks to relieve every case of want and distress 
which may be brought to its care. It guards against 
imposture through visitation and investigation by tried 



METHOD OF OUR WORK. 35 

and trusted agents. By maintaining at all times a 
friendly disposition towards the needy, even when it 
may not be deemed prudent to give the help asked for, 
it is enabled to exert a good moral influence in reani- 
mating the dejected by inspiring a self-helpful spirit. 
It discourages inconsiderate alms-giving as tending 
to produce paupers. To the contributors cards are 
issued, which may be given to those asking assistance 
on the streets or from house to house. These intro- 
duce the applicant to the agents, and secure for him 
such relief as the Society is able to afford if his case 
be found suitable. The facts in the case will be re- 
ported if it be so desired by the contributor. There 
are given away to the poor who are known to the 
agents to be worthy large amounts of food, clothing, 
and fuel. In all times of need the Society is the active 
friend of the poor of our city, giving counsel, encour- 
agement, and material assistance in health, medicines 
and visits in sickness, and, when needed, Christian 
burial in death. 

This plan, which has been published for years in our 
annual reports, was substantially the method of our 
founders. In the month of February, 1842, Rev. John 
Street thus writes : " In the past month I have been 
engaged in visiting the poor, relieved the wants of 
several, paid out to different individuals $11.50, and 
preached almost every night at our different places of 
meeting." Thus evangelism was accompanied by dis- 
tribution, the Bible with a loaf of bread, balm for 
the wounded spirit with clothing for the body, coal for 
the winter's cold with sympathy for the widow and her 
orphans. 

And what marvel ! In the beatitudes of Luke the 



36 $20,000 YEARLY — SEVEN AGENTS. 

missionary read to his audiences, "Blessed be ye, poor, 
for yours is the kingdom of God." " If thou wilt be 
perfect," said our Lord, to the rich young man, who 
turned sadly away after having asked the way to eter- 
nal life, " sell that thou hast and give to the poor." 
Said James, the brother of our Lord, " Hath not God 
chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs 
of the kingdom, which He hath promised to them that 
love Him ?" How could any sincere minister of Christ's 
Gospel preach the offers of a free salvation to a race of 
spiritual paupers, and yet refuse, if he had the means, 
to supply their bodily wants ? While, therefore, our 
founders made the Gospel the most prominent thing, 
they offered relief for the body. As the years rolled on 
and their means increased, their liberality abounded, 
till the Society was able to dispense nearly $20,000 a 
year through seven missionaries, but always on the 
theory, " previous visitation by tried and trusted agents 
precedes supplies." The H. M. S. of the City of Phila- 
delphia is four years older than the corporate Board 
of Missions in the M. E. Church of the United States. 
Our system of committees, by which all contributions 
resolve themselves into a General Mission Committee, was 
adopted by that body after we had proved its efficiency 
for forty years. 

This work of relieving the poor is under the con- 
stant supervision of the " Committee on Office" whose 
duty it is " to make a daily visit to 533 Arch Street, 
and exercise general supervision over the office and 
those employed therein." In midwinter sometimes 
300 persons will seek refuge at the office in a single 
day. These are all entered on a regular note-book, 
name and residence of the applicant, by whom recom- 



37 

mended, and the nature of his wants. As soon as 
practicable he is visited, and if found to be a suitable 
case his wants are supplied, and the friend who recom- 
mended him properly notified. From all nations, 
climes, tongues, and kindred, of all ages and both 
sexes, come these weary-laden, poverty-stricken sick 
and wounded children of Adam. In a single day one 
of the Managers, who enjo t ys the gift of tongues, con- 
versed with over twenty persons in four different lan- 
guages, and found out that the last man had the small- 
pox and wanted to go to a hospital, and yet they were 
all provided for before the day closed ! The office note- 
book, containing each clay's record, is open to gen- 
eral inspection by proper persons, and subject to care- 
ful revision at the meetings of the Board. Every want 
and every allowance, every individual, from the octo- 
genarian to the babe in its mother's arms, is thus under 
careful and competent observation by men who know 
their work and how to do it. 

As the office is connected by telephone with over forty 
benevolent societies in correspondence and mutual aid, 
beside all the business places of our city, every facility 
is given for the direct and prompt execution of our 
work. 

Employment for those who require it, medicines for 
the sick, ambulances for the wounded, hospitals for the 
homeless, food for the hungry, safety for those in 
danger, burial for the dead, are easily accessible and 
speedily procured. 

While witnessing the scenes of that office the mind 
is peculiarly impressed that it is pre-eminently in 
woman that the passive virtues are exemplified. She 
is permitted to suffer where man is given to toil, and 



38 

often without sympathy from sterner natures, whose 
toil she sweetens with her gentle assiduities. In God's 
book of remembrance alone the noblest pages of such 
heroism and even of martyrdom are written. What 
displays of female patience do we see in our work ! 
How the hearts of our agents are made to bleed over a 
wife's devotion and a mother's love, in trying " to keep 
the home together," and in seeking salvation from rum 
and ruin as they stare her in the face and bring the 
wolf to her door ! How many thousands of such suffer- 
ers have found that office like the shadow of a great 
rock in a weary land ! Through the kind benefactions 
of our contributors may many thousands more enjoy 
the same privilege ! 

To provide the requisite materials for the office work, 
the " Committee on Supplies" buy through competent 
agents in open market the various articles necessary 
for the relief of the poor. We are especially careful 
to secure such purchases at the most favorable times 
and at the lowest prices. As our credit is good, after 
half a century in the business, and as we» always have 
a good bank account, merchants will sell to us even 
lower than to some business men. Hence we obtain 
the best articles in the market. Our coal, always the 
most important article on the list, is purchased at 
bottom prices, at the mines, and forwarded, as to op- 
erators, with the cheapest portage. One of our Man- 
agers,* who has supervised the coal and its distribution 
for many years so ably and economically, deserves the 
thanks of every sincere friend of the poor in Philadel- 
phia, as well as the blessings of every widow and 

* Our President. 



"committee on supplies.*' 39 

orphan who secures comfort thereby. Every year 
from $4000 to §5000 must be expended by this Com- 
mittee, with the greatest care and observation that the 
groceries, provisions, coal, shoes, clothing, etc., may be 
the best of their kind, and go as far as possible. The 
best merchants in the Board are always selected for 
the Committee on Supplies, and with good reason; for 
where you have 4000 families to help through their 
distress, and but $4000 to spend for the necessaries of 
life, it takes long heads and warm hearts to complete 
the bargain. Every purchase by this Committee is 
carefully scanned in open Board, the quality, quantity, 
and price stated, so as to secure the combined wisdom 
of twenty-seven gentlemen, each of whom has shown 
himself competent to manage his own affairs. 

But there are many who have no means to prepare a 
meal, even if they had the materials to compose it. In 
a single year meals are furnished to a thousand appli- 
cants, more or less, suitable for any stomach, at a res- 
taurant near the office. Many a hungry applicant has 
thus gone on his way rejoicing, while his soul was 
fed by a tract or Testament received with his meal- 
ticket. 

Probably no European country offers so promising a 
field for the study of charitable methods as Switzer- 
land. Certainly none is more in harmony with our 
free institutions than our sister republic. It is most 
remarkable how those cantons have adhered to a Bib- 
lical charity. We are not surprised to learn that the 
homes of Calvin, Zwingle, Beza, Farel, (Ecolampadius, 
Monod, and D'Aubigne still cling to the maxims of 
Christ and his apostles in their dealings with the poor. 
" The Bible with a loaf of bread is our motto," says 



40 EXAMPLE OF THE SWISS. 

Godet of !Neufchatel, one of the ablest of Continental 
scholars and profoundest of thinkers in our age. 

This reduces vagrancy and pauperism ; this prevents 
indiscriminate and duplicate giving on the only sure 
basis, for it applies common sense to the maxims of 
the Old and New Testaments. This gives employ- 
ment and relief, for it blesses rich and poor alike, 
"both him that gives and him that takes;" elevates 
the home, the life, health, and habits of the poor by 
the only safe method. This insures the religious tract, 
newspaper, and the voice of prayer as essential to the 
Committee on Supplies as coal, clothing, and groceries. 
This sets men to work if able-bodied, and relieves 
their sufferings if sick. This enforces the Apostle's 
command, " If any would not work, neither should he 
eat." When good men intrust their benefactions to 
the Home Missionary Society they know that its oper- 
ations are open to inspection, and its servants are 
worthy of confidence. Here is no bureau for espionage 
without relief, no mere surveillance without real com- 
fort and consolation. 

But if the Committee on Supplies is essential to the 
welfare of the poor, no less important is the Committee 
on Finance to the rich. Here we place our bankers and 
ablest financiers, who for many years have shown their 
tact in management, who thoroughly understand the 
value and usefulness of a dollar, not only the funds of 
our contributors, but those intrusted to us for distri- 
bution by men of large wealth and larger benevo- 
lence. What a comfort to such men, who have patiently 
served for years, to see how a little money can be made, 
in their hands at least, to go a great way ; to be always 
ready, when other societies have no funds, and their 



41 



poor ,come to our doors, to stand up like a wall of de- 
fence, and be able by their wise provision to meet the 
flood of poverty and misery in a great city of 1,000,000 
inhabitants ! 

During fifty years they have met all demands from 
those who were worthy recipients. For half a century 
the Home Missionary Society has never been bankrupt. 
The Treasurers who have served us, one of them for 
thirty-three years, never said the treasury is empty. 
We have often — oh, how often !— heard it said our 
financial strength is low, or we need more money, but 
never yet are we without a dollar. What is the reason ? 
A well-known physician was once asked by some of 
his wealthier patients, " Why do you care for the poor ? 
Why not devote all your time to the rich ?" " Ah !" 
said he, " I love to help the poor because God is their 
banker." We say it reverently, the Home Missionary 
Society has had God for its banker. 

One branch of finance is the care of trust funds. 
Within the last thirty-five years we have been placed 
in charge of larsce sums of money raised for definite 
purposes, or given by private individuals for benevo- 
lence. On a Thursday afternoon, June 6, 1867, there 
was a terrible and most destructive explosion in the 
steam saw-mill of Geasey & Ward, in Sansom Street, 
south side, above Tenth. Twenty-two dead bodies 
were taken out of the ruins. In aid of the families 
and individuals thus afflicted nearly $1000 were col- 
lected and distributed by the Agents of the Home 
Missionary Society. 

In February, 1878, a committee, consisting of S. A. 
Caldwell, B. B. Comegys, E. A. Rollins, I. P. Scott, 
I. H. Campbell, James Bateman, and Henry M. Dech- 



42 



ert, and appointed at a meeting of the citizens to col- 
lect funds for the relief of suffering caused by the loss 
of the steamer " Metropolis," handed over the sum of 
$2559.25 to the Treasurer of our Society, with the 
following resolution : 

" After carefully considering the whole matter, it 
was voted that the fund, now in the hands of the 
Treasurer, subscribed and paid for the relief of the 
suffering caused by the loss of the steamer ' Metrop- 
olis/ as well as any further subscriptions made and 
realized for that object, be paid over to the Home Mis- 
sionary Society of the City of Philadelphia, for the. 
purpose of carrying out in the most effectual method 
the aims of the subscribers, and that a list of the names 
of the sufferers and statements of their necessities shall 
from time to time be furnished by the Committee to 
that Society. 

" Very respectfully, 

" E. A. Rollins, 

" Secretary." 

No higher testimonial of respect and confidence 
could be expected from the best representatives of our 
merchants and bankers than this vote of the " Me- 
tropolis Committee." From the Tenth Ward, in time 
of public calamity, we received $1229.86 for distribu- 
tion among the poor of that ward, and in the Thir- 
teenth Ward, as directed by the executor of the estate 
of Peter Cullen, $400, in 1875. Such are the testimo- 
nials from city officials of public confidence. From 
that large and wealthy firm, Messrs. Burnham, Parry 
& Williams (Baldwin Locomotive Works), various 



THOMAS H. POWERS. 43 

sums, amounting during fifteen it >vei ^_ 

hav listributed by us to their be 

But among private individuals, the chief eontr: 
: :ur trust funds, who. while he lived, was known 
our books by that unknown title. " Friend of th 
and when he die I, was mourned - a prince 

among benefactors and philanthropists, the late The : 
H. I wers, during fifteen years intrustc t the S< .:- 

. every year, in various sums, the large amoun: : 

i -1 T . M)0. After his lepartore the Managers ex- 
pressed their feelings : - :-rrow in a formal testinio- 
nial: "Bur - bristian philanthropist, and for ms 

rs the chief contributor to our trust funds, we re- 
rd our own loss. TTe remember, with dev :: _ grati- 
tude to God, not jnlythe large mount of his bene- 
factions, year augmenting them, but the ent 
confidence he express 1, after careful s r ::iny of our 
methods and agents, in the manner adopted this 
S :ety for the distribution of its funds among 

::hy pociV' 

Every voluntary assc '.don for be::; lent pnrj - - 
must by some means get ;ess t the f the] lie. 

The pulpit and the press have been our t est rrierj Is for 
this object. Our Standing Committee on A 
and Pi Met have had no slight task to perform. 

Th:- S 2ietj - rn in a Christian church. During 
fifty years it has : -ecei ".-.". u |25,( ) firom the 

Dgelical churches : Philadelphia by public 

tributions. Eev. Dr. Henry A. Boardman, wh sc 

ministry in the Tenth PresbyteriaD inrch began 

1835. g -torned to take nj yearly 

contribution for oni S iety, which amounted ... >ne 

\sion to $300. Its ablest leaders and best in - 



44 NO DIVORCE IN THIS WAR. 

have been nurtured from infancy in the church. All 
its officers and agents are church members, and nearly 
all its contributors. What utter folly, nay, worse, 
suicide, to divorce such an organization from the 
Christian churches of our city, or from the best and 
holiest incentives to benevolence, the glory of God, 
and the highest welfare of man ! Thanks to our 
Heavenly Father, this attempt has never been seri- 
ously made within the Society, and when the com- 
bined forces of scepticism and infidelity, under the 
garb of a nominal Christianity from without, shall at- 
tempt to impair public confidence in all our societies 
for general relief as well as Christian benevolence, 
may they find the Board of Managers as firm as ada- 
mant ; and why so firm ? Because they have the fear 
of God before their eyes and the influence of Chris- 
tian churches at their back. 

Such anniversary occasions are glorious reunions. 
There the best platform talent, so difficult to obtain, 
is always ready to advocate the aims and objects of 
the Home Missionary Society. There we meet pastors, 
honored and beloved in all our churches, who in their 
own pastoral visits see our work and feel its power. 
There we see in the pews the ablest of our mer- 
chants and professional men, who come to listen to 
the claims of our Society on their hearts, their con- 
sciences, and their purses, while in the galleries we 
get a glimpse of hundreds of our beneficiaries, who 
in their own lives have felt the power of a new affec- 
tion, — that ardent love for our work, — evinced by long 
pilgrimages to the anniversary exercises, and their tears 
when present. On one occasion, after a powerful dis- 
course from Rev. Dr. Wadsworth in the church at 



WIDOW WITH FOUR CHILDREN. 45 

Arch Street west of Tenth, $500 was raised. During 
half a century we have raised S10,000 on anniversary 
occasions. 

The same Committee have charge of all public meet- 
ings during the year, in a lecture-room, over a bar- 
room, or in a cottage. Wherever we can get a hear- 
ing, there we go, if invited, and sometimes without 
invitation. Thus we obtain access to families, for 
often one or two, sometimes many, ask our mission- 
aries to visit them. Listen to these narratives from 
their note-books : (1) " After a meeting, I called on a 
widow with four children. She is sick. To secure 
daily bread, her boy, twelve years of age, sells papers. 
He called to see me, asking for a situation in the city, 
whereby he might help his mother. I knew a man of 
business who wanted a boy, took Mm with me and 
secured the place. He has been with him three weeks, 
and gives such good satisfaction that his wages have 
been raised, and he is promised permanent employ- 
ment with a knowledge of the trade. When the 
mother had sufficiently recovered she came to thank 
me for the interest I had taken in her son. In this 
case it was not the money given which called forth her 
gratitude, but the fact that I had helped the family to 
help themselves. 

" (2) One family consisting of a wife and three chil- 
dren, for the husband was in prison. I found the chil- 
dren, one a babe at the breast, in very destitute circum- 
stances, — no food, no coal, and rent in arrears, with 
daily prospect of distraint. I aided them to secure 
tbe necessaries of life and paid a quarter's rent. 
When tbe husband was released, he called to see if I 
could get him a situation. I gave him a start to buy 



46 A HUSBAND IN PKISON. 

rags. He did well, for he was an intelligent man, and 
as a mechanic knew how to make an honest livelihood, 
if he could obtain a situation. While he was buying 
and selling rags this was obtained. His employer 
likes him very much, and he has earned a suit of 
clothes. Now he goes to church and takes his chil- 
dren with him." Are not the neighborhood meetings 
of value to the poor? Is not this Biblical charity? If 
we add to all this the immense number of souls saved, 
the families improved in temporal as well as spiritual 
condition, the homes renewed and sanctified, the com- 
munity ennobled and purified, who can estimate to 
Philadelphia the blessings which have followed from 
the fifty years' work of the Home Missionary Society ? 



CHAPTEK IV. 

Methods of "Work. — Committee on Publication and Printing. — The 
First Printer in the Middle Colonies. — Annual Eeports, in Four 
Octavo Volumes. — The H. M. S. "Quarterly." — Testimonials to 
its Power. — Committee on Legacies. — Their Duties. — Amount in 
Fifty Years. — Case of Mary J. K. — Value of her Bequest. — The 
Circle of this Trinity, Sickness, Death, and Burial. — Great Epi- 
demics. — John the Baptist and the Messiah. — Epitome of our 
Work. — Burial of the Worthy Poor. — Why ? — Correspondence 
with Cemetery Companies. — A Prize ($2000) drawn in Mount 
Mori ah Cemetery. 

But what shall we render to our Committee on Print- 
ing and Publication ? We live and labor for the poor 
in a city where the first printer for the middle colonies 
came to these shores with "William Penn in the year 
1682, who started the first paper-mill in Pennsylvania, 
and achieved the freedom of the press a century before 
the case of Wilkes in the English House of Lords; 
who lived to see his son " the friend and patron of 
Benjamin Franklin, and the founder of the newspaper 
press in the Middle Colonies." With such antecedents, 
why should we ignore the power of the press ? 

What a fund of information, what a history of facts, 
principles, and struggles for the poor is contained in 
the annual reports of the Home Missionary Society 
for half a century ! If bound together they would 
comprise four large octavos of 300 pages each, with 
such appropriate titles as " Life among the Lowly," 
" Sparks from the Ashes of City Life," " Grace 

47 



48 H. M. S. QUARTERLY. 

Abounding in a Second Sodom," " The Triumph of 
a Biblical Charity." To these might be added our 
" Quarterly," published at a critical period in the his- 
tory of Philadelphia, for the benefit of our friends and 
contributors who desired to know more of our work, 
what it is, and how it is done; to state our methods, 
and record their results. By it we sought to enlighten 
the public as to the labors of tried and trusted agents, 
their contests, trials, and success ; to disclose the mani- 
fold character of our work, and the means at our dis- 
posal for the spread of the Gospel, relief of the poor, 
and the care of destitute children. 

This Quarterly made a deep and salutary impression 
throughout this city and over the country. Compli- 
mentary notices by the press, including magazines, 
political and ecclesiastical; letters from clergymen of 
distinction, from lawyers of national reputation, judges 
on the bench, city and State officials, showed how 
highly they appreciated this effort to revive the claims 
and the power of a Biblical charity. These testimoni- 
als might be published with good results, but our space 
will not permit it. Think of the labor entailed on the 
Committee for Printing and Publication, who carried 
on a newspaper, some of whose issues consisted of 
eight pages, that it might prevent that charity which 
is like a certain philosophy, falsely so called, and like 
a certain faith, which, while "it is dead, being without 
works," yet speaketh! What an herculean effort to 
rouse the churches of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, 
like living cells in the midst of dead matter, are the 
life-centres in human society, that they might give 
unto men, and in yet larger measure, bread to the 
hungry, clothes to the naked, shelter to the houseless, 



COMMITTEE ON LEGACIES. 49 

friends to the fallen, visitors to those in prison, and, 
above all, the Gospel of Jesus Christ ! 

But in an active organization like the Home Mis- 
sionary Society of Philadelphia for benevolent effort 
there should be — there must be — a " Committee on Lega- 
cies;" not, certainly, " legacy-hunters" who are waiting 
for " dead men's shoes," but when legacies are given, 
to see that they are properly secured and wisely in- 
vested in harmony with the design of the testator. 

By a careful estimate of the several bequests during 
the half-century just closed, we have received already 
in funds over §50,000, and when the legacies already 
made, but which are not yet paid, are secured, we shall 
have obtained §100,000. For some of these bequests 
we maj' wait an indefinite period before the estates 
are settled, but " we are on the bond," and as the sun 
rolls round, will secure our money if anybody obtains 
anything. What a testimony to the hold which this 
Society has on the affections of God's people, that 
in fifty years we have already received $1000 per 
annum ! Surely we have not served God for nought. 
And when these kind mementos have come from our 
own beneficiaries, on the bed of death, whom father 
and mother for many years had forsaken, — and yet 
they remembered that fond parent, the Home Mis- 
sionary Society, who received them with open arms 
in their orphanage, — the tears of gratitude to God 
moistened many cheeks at the intelligence. 

Listen to the following narrative : In 1854 an appli- 
cation was made at the office for a visit to a consump- 
tive, who was a widow, by the Society's Agent. Rev. 
Mr. Street w r ent, and after conversation, reading of the 
Scriptures, and prayer, she manifested great anxiety 



50 AFTER MANY DAYS. 

for the welfare of her infant child, scarcely eighteen 
months old. Our Agent assured the dying woman that 
her own soul was of paramount interest, and that he 
would provide for the child. As death approached, 
her mind was greatly relieved that the Home Mission- 
ary Society would assume the care of her child. During 
her sickness the Society secured the necessary temporal 
relief, — coal, groceries, physicians, and medicines, 
with such comforts as the sick require. Through the 
kind attention of Mrs. Street, the Agent's wife, the 
child was provided with a home. At that time Mr. 
Thomas T. Mason, one of the Managers, was in the 
dry-goods business, and received a call from R. GL, of 
M., J. County. As Mr. G. had no daughter, he was 
prevailed on, after consultation with his wife, to take 
the infant to his own family. Thirteen years passed on. 
The present Agent, Rev. E. H. Toland, in his visits 
among the children, called at M., and found the child, 
whose name was on our record as an infant, now a 
blooming young maiden of nearly sixteen summers, 
much beloved by her foster-parents, respected by the 
family and neighbors, living in a fine house surrounded 
by a garden, and every comfort in life. Mary J. R., 
the helpless orphan, was now, though still a ward of 
the Society, a student of Litiz Seminary for young 
ladies, a member of the Christian church, and of the 
church choir. The cordial reception extended to the 
Agent, the many questions asked concerning the wel- 
fare of the Home Missionary Society, especially the 
tender concern manifested by the central figure in that 
family group, showed how our work is best appreciated 
by those best qualified to judge, and who welcomed 
bur Agent to their home. The assurance was given 



THE CIRCLE OF THIS TRINITY. 51 

that the Society should not be forgotten, and contribu- 
tions soon came regularly from that quiet home in J. 
County as the years rolled by. 

Soon Mary's foster-father died, and bequeathed to 
her 85000. Though many suitors appeared, her tender 
attachment to Mrs. G. and her own delicate health, 
inherited from her mother, prevented her acceptance 
of such offers. Her contributions continued till her 
death, sometimes as high as S100 a year. Her foster- 
brother, Robert G., was lost in the war of the Rebel- 
lion ; and in the event of Mrs. G.'s death she would 
have received the entire estate had she survived, be- 
cause she had been adopted by the family. During 
August, 1880, conscious that her departure was near, 
she drew up her will, which was admitted to probate. 
In that will 8500 was left to the Home Missionary 
Society, and the rest to benevolent institutions. She 
lived and died a Christian, and her works do follow 
her. What a star in the crown of our rejoicing ! May 
many of those who are and have been wards of this 
Society imitate her blessed example ! 

Sickness, death, and burial constitute the last things 
of life. They are, however, in the plans of most per- 
sons, the last things to be thought of, and for which 
the poor are most unprepared. They unveil the escha- 
tology of the Scriptures, and bring us near to the 
powers of the world to come. Most properly, there- 
fore, do they come within the purview of a Society 
which seeks to care for all men from the cradle to 
the srave. Within the circle of this trinity — sickness, 

<-5 t, ' 

death, and burial — we often secure our greatest vic- 
tories, obtain our brightest rewards, and impart our 
sweetest consolations. 



52 GREAT EPIDEMICS. 

Here our beloved physicians show their skill and 
their remedies — offered gratuitously to the sick poor 
— and sometimes work wonders in the healing art. 
Three of our Managers have for many years given 
yearly as much as $100 apiece that the sick poor might 
be properly supplied with medicines. Here our sur- 
geons have gratuitously performed operations which 
would do honor to the ability of a Nelaton or Graefe, 
an Agnew or a Gross. Then come those great epi- 
demics, the deadly typhus and typhoid, scarlet and 
intermittent fevers, smallpox and yellow fever, cholera 
infantum and Asiatic cholera; for all these have held 
high carnival in Philadelphia since 1835, and have 
tested the ability and patience of our Managers, agents, 
and contributors. What a demand for physicians 
and medicines, to save life, restore health, and pre- 
vent the breaking up of the humble homes of the 
poor! 

Our blessed Lord, in order to convince John the 
Baptist that he was indeed the Messiah, said, " Go and 
tell John that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers 
are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and 
the poor have the Gospel preached to them." What 
an epitome of our work ! In the tides of disease 
which sweep over our great cities one is reminded of 
the angel in the Apocalypse who had the seven vials 
full of the seven last plagues. E"o other method to 
relieve these plagues has yet been devised equal to 
that which Jesus gave to John in his despondency. 
This is our warrant, to care for suffering humanity 
from the cradle to the grave, to provide transportation 
for helpless strangers, homes for the homeless, hos- 
pitals for the sick and insane, medicines for those who 



AND BURIAL. 53 

need them, funerals for those who cannot bury them- 
selves, and a grave for their bodies, for they rarely 
have one of their own. We leave no one without the 
consolations of religion and the hopes of the Gospel. 
Therefore we carry the ordinances of God's house to 
the sick-chamber, to the dying mother and helpless 
infant, baptized in the arms of lier victorious faith ; to 
prison, where the condemned malefactor asks to be 
admitted to the true church, ere lie expiates his crime 
on the gallows, like the dying thief, who on a cross 
received the assurance, " This day shalt thou be with 
me in paradise." 

I have stated that we bury the poor. This may 
sound like news to some ears, for " with a great price 
have we obtained this freedom." There is nothing 
which the poor so much dread on entering a hospital 
as the prospect of a " post-mortem" or dissection by 
students in anatomy. This may seem strange to medi- 
cal men, to whom familiarity with such scenes in the 
" Green-Room" often breeds contempt. Of course 
pay-patients are provided with a safe-conduct out of 
the hospital as well as into it, if they so desire, but 
charity-patients have no alternative, and must submit 
at least to "post-mortem," if not to dissection, in 
nearly all the public hospitals in case of death. By 
simply stating that in case of death we desire to re- 
move the dead for burial we are able to secure a 
Christian funeral and burial, which is a source of 
great consolation to survivors. 

For years we have had our own lot at the Odd-Fel- 
lows' Cemetery. Since this became well occupied we 
were at a loss where to go. At last one of the Mana- 
gers wrote to a personal friend as follows: 



54 THE 

" Dear Sir, — I have been for a long time desirous 
to secure a burial-place for the worthy poor in our 
city. I have noticed in my medical visits among this 
class of our population that many of them dread most 
of all, in prospect of death, the ' Potter's Field,' which 
means, in reality, the vault with its arsenious acid and 
water, perhaps dissection in our own medical schools, 
or transfer, by sale, to some Western or Southern 
medical institution for a similar purpose. To Christ's 
poor such a prospect is not pleasant, nor is it necessary 
so long as our prisons, houses of correction, and county 
jails furnish all the material which our medical schools 
require. I' have made several personal appeals to some 
of our cemetery companies on this subject, but always 
with a negative answer. 

" Some dread the prospect of a 4 Potter's Field' amid 
the expensive monuments and elaborated tombs, as it 
might affect their business prospects, forgetting ' that 
on earth rich and poor dwell together, for the Lord is 
maker of them all;' and if on the earth, why not under 
it, in their graves ? Others, in these cemetery compa- 
nies, assert that their charters admit of no provision 
for any ' poor-lot,' and if such a lot were granted they 
might forfeit their corporate rights. It seems, as the 
result of this investigation, that our boasted civiliza- 
tion recognizes no rights of the poor on the part of 
the rich, either in life or death. More than a year has 
been spent in these fruitless requests. May I urge 
personal reasons with you, as well as arguments 
drawn from our common humanity and Christianity, 
in offering the following propositions to your cemetery 
company : 

" (1) What will your company charge me for a lot of 



CHRISTIAN BURIAL, A PRIZE. 55 

land containing six hundred square feet in which to 
bury strangers and the worthy poor ? 

" (2) Provided your Board of Directors will not con- 
sent to such a sale of their real estate, do you know 
of any method by which corpses can be safely interred 
and permanently buried, without danger of transfer, at 
a given price per body, which you will state in your 
reply ?" 

To this came the following answer, after an interval 
of two years : 

"Dear Sir, — I rejoice at last, after so much nego- 
tiation and such earnest personal solicitation on your 
part, that the worthy poor can be decently buried in 
Philadelphia. I believe the cemetery company will, 
in the end, be richer pecuniarily,, and certainly deserve 
the esteem and respect of every high-minded Christian, 
if they can fulfil this negotiation. Christ never will 
desert His poor, and, cost what it may, we, as His 
followers, should never suffer them to be deserted, 
especially at the hour of death. You propose ' to hand 
over the lots to one of the oldest and best of our city's 
benevolent institutions, the " Home Missionary So- 
ciety," office, 533 Arch Street' The ground donated 
will contain, if buried as you propose, 400 dead bodies, 
which, at §5 per head, our cheapest rate, is §2000. 

Yours respectfully." 

These lots are now (1885) enclosed with a neat and 
permanent enclosure, — marble posts with galvanized 
iron tubing, — so well made and placed that they will 
remain for half a century. 



CHAPTER V. 

Our Wards. — What is " Home" without the Children? — Our Foun- 
ders began this Work. — One Thousand Children placed in Homes 
prior to 1860. — Immense Scope of this Department. — Somebody 
must care for them. — Some too Poor or too Vicious to care for 
their own — Such Provision essential to Large Cities. — Evils of 
the Asylum Plan. — George Heriot's Hospital. — Christ's Method. — 
Their First Estate.— Their Value to Society.— Statistics of Pau- 
perism, Ignorance, and Crime. — Herbert Spencer. — His View. — 
Religious Element in Education. — Experience of Penitentiaries. — 
G-irard College. — Daniel Webster. — Hon. Joel Jones. — Our Method 
of Indenture. — That " New Light." — Christian Charity. — Emanuel 
Wichern. — The " Pauhe Haus." — The Importance of the Family. 
— In 1874, Charter enlarged. — Full Powers granted. — The Street 
Arabs. — Often from the Worst Slums. — The Glorious Change. — 
Examples. 

The Home Missionary Society feels a deep interest 
in everything pertaining to the home-life of its bene- 
ficiaries ; and what is home without the children ? As 
the Germans reply, " Like a house with the lights 
extinguished." 

From its origin, as we have already shown, the care 
of children was an important and most useful depart- 
ment of its multiform work; but this work was not 
developed into its present proportions until 1874, when 
Article V. was adopted as an integral part of the con- 
stitution. As far back as 1860 the number of children 
under care had reached over 1000, and during the 
twenty-five years since that date the number has reached 
over 3000. Most persons have no idea of the impor- 
tance of our work among children. It came upon us 
56 



57 

as a matter of necessity. We had to do something for 
the offspring of parents who were either too poor or 
too vicious to care for their own children. This is 
now just as essential to the civilization of large cities 
as to start mission-schools or build churches. Our 
Managers decided at an early period to place as many 
of them as possible in country homes, where they 
might acquire habits of industry and thrift. The 
Scriptures, under an inspired pen, assert that " God 
setteth the solitary in families," and our experience 
shows that there is no place like a Christian family 
for the training of children. 

In the days of Queen Elizabeth of England there 
was a wealthy goldsmith who left a large estate to the 
city of Edinburgh to endow an asylum where orphan 
boys could be sheltered, fed, clothed, and taught with- 
out expense to his beneficiaries. George Heriot's Hos- 
pital is one of the wealthiest charitable asylums in 
Great Britain. The founder was deeply impressed 
with the miseries of poor orphans, and he supposed 
that by keeping them near to the charitable influences 
of an asylum their pauperism would be relieved. If 
those pupils had all been placed in families, they would 
have seen the influence of constant exertion on the part 
of their adopted parents and guardians to support a 
family, and by the light of example would have caught 
their inspiration to work and struggle with obstacles in 
life. Those orphans in Heriot's Hospital are removed 
from the world where they were born, deprived of the 
natural discipline of the family, so that their mode of 
life, instruction, and training become artificial. They 
grow up to eighteen years of age in seclusion, like 
ascetics in a monastery, without knowledge of the 



58 • CHRISTIANITY VS. HEATHENISM. 

world and without preparation to face the duties of 
life. One of the ablest thinkers of Edinburgh assured 
me that it was harder to provide for Heriot's benefi- 
ciaries than for the poor themselves, and that the 
hospital was regarded by some of the best people in 
Edinburgh as a nuisance. 

There must be a Christian method to provide for the chil- 
dren of the poor and to secure them from vice. Infidelity 
and heathenism recommend infanticide or desertion 
by parents and guardians. Terence, one of Rome's 
illustrious dramatists, urged his wife to destroy their 
expected infant, especially if it were a daughter. Said 
Seneca, Rome's great moralist, " monstrous children 
we destroy, the weak and ill-formed we drown, and 
the rest, even legitimate children, we expose for the 
speculator to buy, to be sold as slaves or reared as 
prostitutes, or maimed for exhibition by beggars and 
mountebanks." Such was the state of the world when 
Christ came. 

In what state do we find these children ? They exist 
in garrets and cellars, sleeping on straw beds or bare 
floors, packed closely together, to keep off, if possible, 
the wind and rain. Their food consists of crusts and 
victuals which they gather stealthily — through fear of 
the police — from back gates. They have a piteous, 
hungry look, and are always on the brink of starvation. 
These are found filled with perishing dreams and with 
wrecks of forgotten delirium. They hardly raise their 
eyes, except in beseeching looks for assistance, and 
their heads, rarely covered, droop towards the dirt. 
Their humility and meekness is the fruit of their hope- 
less condition, not of a chastened spirit. Mutter they 
may, but with the terrible emphasis of shame and bias-. 



59 

pheruy, as if they were a sacrifice on some altar, whose 
oblations availed not towards pardon which they might 
implore or reparation which they would attempt. Yet 
these are our wards. 

As children were not left out of the ancient cove- 
nant or of the Christian church, so they are not 
neglected or forsaken by the Home Missionary So- 
ciety. For many years we have had a special depart- 
ment for them, and we are, in fact, the only Society 
for general relief who have the right to claim the title 
of the Children's Aid Society of Philadelphia. As 
the result of careful observation, we believe that the 
safety of property, no less than its productiveness, in 
a word, the welfare of the State, depend on the over- 
sight of these children. This is susceptible of proof; 
actual statistics show that in France the one-half of 
the people, who are unable to read or write, commit 
ninety per cent, of the crimes. In Scotland pauperism 
diminishes just as schools increase. In Pennsylvania 
one in ten of the illiterate is a pauper, while in the 
rest of the population who can read, only one in 300 
is a pauper. As three-fourths of the crime and pauper- 
ism in Philadelphia is among the intemperate, so three- 
fourths of the intemperance is among the illiterate. 
But the training of the intellect alone will not elevate 
the poor or make good citizens. 

Herbert Spencer, one of the ablest original thinkers 
of our generation in England, has argued very forcibly 
to prove that crime is compatible with mental training. 
His statistics show that crimes are more frequent 
among certain classes of educated minds than in those 
of inferior intelligence. Mr. Spencer, however, fails 
to see what real education is, and the only basis on 



60 EASTERN PENITENTIARY. 

which it can rest. Without the religious element we 
cannot draw out the mental powers and endue the 
mind with the higher aspirations and incitements to 
virtue. The ability to read, write, and cipher is 
often an incitement to crime, because some forms of 
crime require intelligence. Pickpockets even respect 
a man who can write another's name and read the 
Police Gazette. 

Our fathers were wiser than some of their descend- 
ants. They insisted on religious culture as the true 
basis of our charitable institutions. Thomas Brad- 
ford, LL.D., one of the commissioners for building 
the Eastern State Penitentiary, and one of its inspec- 
tors for thirty years, urged the appointment at the 
outset " of a moral instructor who should preach the 
Gospel, converse and pray with the inmates." So far 
as the " separate system" of prison discipline has been 
successful in that penitentiary, it is directly traceable 
to the efforts of the moral instructor. 

In the contest over the will of Stephen Girard, Hon. 
Daniel Webster, in behalf of the heirs as opposed to 
the city of Philadelphia, claimed that the college, with 
the exclusion of all ecclesiastics, according to the will, 
would be contrary to the spirit of the Constitution of 
the United States, since that instrument recognized 
Christianity as the national religion by public consent 
and numerous enactments. When Girard College was 
opened, evangelical Christians feared it would prove 
a curse to Philadelphia, and Hon. Joel Jones and his 
associates in the Board of Directors, when called upon 
to select a system of moral philosophy in harmony 
with our republican institutions, adopted the ]STew 
Testament. 



INDENTURES AND OBLIGATIONS. 61 

Under its present management, with such men in 
the Board of City Trusts, one of the finest chapels has 
been erected on the grounds, and more evangelical 
truth, from intelligent lay preachers, is heard there 
than in many Christian churches, even though Girard 
forbade any ecclesiastic ever to enter its walls. "With 
such examples in the history of Philadelphia, what 
other course could be taken by our Managers with the 
children committed to their care except to train them 
for heaven ? 

They are careful to select homes where future guar- 
dians will feel this responsibility. Every such guar- 
dian signs the indenture, and solemnly promises, (1) 
That he will send them to Sabbath-school and to 
church. (2) That he will have them taught to read, 
write, and cipher. (3) That at the end of their ser- 
vice they will be returned to the Society, and that he 
will show that he has complied with the requisitions of 
the indenture. (4) That he will carefully initiate them 
into the trade or occupation for which they are placed 
under his care. (5) That he will promise to teach 
them to speak the truth, to be honest and pure, to fear 
God and to keep His commandments, remembering 
that in the judgment thej will be accountable for the 
welfare of these children. (6) That he will write at 
least once in six months to the Secretary of the Board, 
that the Managers may be informed of their health, 
deportment, and general condition. (7) That he will 
not transfer or surrender them to any one without the 
written approval or consent of the Agent of the Home 
Missionary Society. (8) That the Visitor of the chil- 
dren shall be permitted to visit any and all children 
placed or bound by the Society, and to hold converse 



62 THE RAUHE HAUS AT HORN. 

with them alone if desired. (9) That all persons taking 
children from the H. M. S. are required to notify the 
Agent of any change they may make in their residence. 

It is earnestly recommended by the Home Mis- 
sionary Society to all guardians to give every 
reasonable opportunity to their wards to attend 
public worship and sabbath-schools. 

Thus has the Home Missionary Society for fifty 
years secured the Christian education of children under 
our care ; thus have we lighted up thousands of homes 
with the controlling power of a new affection, Christian 
charity. 

About the year 1835, contemporaneous with the re- 
vival of evangelical religion in Germany and with the 
establishment of the Home Missionary Society of the 
City of Philadelphia, a candidate for the ministry, 
aroused by the condition of the humbler and poorer 
classes at Hamburg, began his work in the Rauhe 
Haus at Horn. He felt the importance of the family 
in the training of children, and with eight illegitimate 
children and four brought up by drunken and criminal 
parents he formed his first household. On the same 
farm, at convenient distances, he established families 
of twelve each in houses of refuge and redemption for 
abandoned and neglected children, the offspring of sin 
and profligacy, of misery and destitution. The beauti- 
ful and tasteful residences which the inmates erected, 
and which compose the Rauhe Haus, are famous 
throughout Europe, and made Emanuel Wichern the 
representative of Home Missions in Germany and a 
leading member of the highest council for the Prussian 
Church. In twenty-five years he sent out over 800 
children, many of whom became heads of various re- 



THEIR CONDITION A^'D REFOBM. 63 

formatory institutions throughout the world. During 
half a century we have likewise raised over 3000 to be 
useful and even prominent in their various spheres of 
usefulness. 

In 1874 our charter was so enlarged as to give full 
legal sanction and the protection of the State to the 
Society in this department of their work, should any 
complication arise from interference by others. As 
these children enter or are brought by parents and the 
police to the office, they are found to be the most ill-clad 
and wildest in Philadelphia. Accustomed to use vile 
language, they would swear and fight with each other, 
and could hardly be restrained. Shoeless and hatless, 
with hair tangled and faces unwashed, many of them 
with ragged and torn clothing, they have a keen, wild 
expression of eye which shows the genuine type of the 
street Arab, found only in the worst slums of a great 
city. 

How soon is all this changed when removed to the 
enlightening and ennobling influences of a family 
where Christ's spirit and example are felt, in the 
country ! Here they find goodness and piety united. 
Their vices and bad habits are soon concealed before 
true virtue. They long to be like their friends, who 
know how to control their temper. Their minds and 
their consciences are aroused. The moral power of 
true religion is seen in their conduct, and thus these 
outcasts are reformed, regenerated, and saved. What 
a blessed change ! ~No department of our Society's 
work is so cheering and comforting to our agents and 
the Board, for we can see the children grow not only 
in stature but in favor with God and man. 

Listen to these narratives. Let the cases speak for 



64 EXAMPLES. 

themselves: (1) A poor orphan boy of Philadelphia, of 
vicious habits, whose bed was the cellar-door or open 
wagon, and whose food was secured by begging, was 
placed with a reputable farmer. The requisitions of 
the Society were faithfully complied with by his em- 
ployer, and after an absence of sixteen years, James 
applied personally at the office (533 Arch Street) for 
several boys to return with him to the country. That 
boy is now a land-owner, a useful citizen, a member of 
the Christian church, and not one hundred miles from 
Philadelphia. 

(2) Another boy, whose mother was a degraded 
character, and frequently before our courts, recently 
returned to the city from the country, where, eleven 
years ago, he was placed by the Society. But what a 
contrast ! Instead of the little outcast who followed a 
debauchee around the city, he comes back to our office 
a young man of more than ordinary intelligence, 
having, at the close of his apprenticeship, educated 
himself in a seminary, paying for it with his own earn- 
ings, to qualify himself for the higher duties of an 
active life. 

(3) A lady of wealth, member of the P. E. Church, 
discovers in the office, during one of her visits, a little 
girl in filth and rags, standing by the register. Her 
heart was touched as she heard the child's story : " Her 
parents, both drunk at home, had sent her out to beg, 
for the} 7 had been warned out of the house for non-pay- 
ment of rent." At first the lady objected on account 
of her size, but through persuasion was induced to 
take her on trial. After two weeks a letter came, in 
which her employer wrote that she did not desire a 
better girl. During fourteen years little Maggie has 



ORPHAN BOY IN PEISON. 65 

maintained an excellent character, and for eight years 
has been a communicant of the P. E. Church in one 
of our suburban districts. Not long since her em- 
ployer called to say that she would soon marry a 
worthy citizen. 

(4) An orphan boy in Moyamensing Prison, without 
guardians or friends, was committed by a magistrate 
on a charge of larceny. Our Agent, on investigating 
the case, learned that he was in company with another 
boy, who stole a blanket, and, being homeless and 
friendless, was suspected of being a confederate, and 
was therefore committed to prison. But his innocence 
being admitted by the principal, his release was pro- 
cured, and he was placed in charge of the Home Mis- 
sionary Society. A farmer in Delaware wanted a boy. 
We placed the orphan at Moyamensing Prison in his 
charge, where he attends school, enjoys moral instruc- 
tion, a good example, and a healthy occupation. We 
have heard from him " that he is satisfied with his 
home, and his guardian is satisfied with him/' 

It has been a prominent object in our plans of use- 
fulness to break up this ignorance and vice among the 
youth of Philadelphia, and thus prevent intemperance, 
pauperism,, and crime. As the statistics of our great 
cities prove that many children may become criminals, 
our experience proves that multitudes of them may 
become Christians, good citizens, and blessings to 
mankind. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Eeview. — The First Decade. — Struggle for Existence. — Second Decade. 
— Evangelism with Distribution. — Third Decade. — Our Bounds en- 
larged and Stakes strengthened. — Fourth Decade. — Large Fortunes 
and Abundant Means. — Fifth Decade. — A Vigorous Struggle for 
Biblical Charity. — The late Henry Disston, a Beloved Manager and 
Shrewd Observer. — His Interest in our "Work among Workmen. — 
The Christian Scheme vs. " Materialism."— The H. M. S. vs. " Com- 
munism." — The Bible's Estimate of the Dignity of Labor. — Cottage 
Prayer-Meetings vs. Infidel Agitators. — Scriptural Warnings to 
Masters. — And Instructions to their Workmen. — Mr. Disston's 
Liberality. — Capital and Labor both friendly to the H. M. S. — 
How we reach Employers and the Employed. — The Founders' 
Position. — Impregnable because Evangelical. — Summary of Fifty 
Years. — Our Confidence in the Kesult — Two Beasons : I. We have 
found favor with God ; II. The Spirit of the Age favors our 
Work. — Final Appeal. 

What is the retrospect ? Our founders, during the 
first decade of the Society's history, had to contend 
with the schemes of French infidelity in the State, and 
imperfect views in the church of what constitutes an 
American society for the relief of the poor. 

During the second decade, the problem to be solved 
was the practical union of evangelism with proper 
distribution to the poor. From 1855 to 1865 the 
sphere of the Society was greatly enlarged by the 
peculiar scenes of usefulness preceding and during 
the war of the Rebellion. Fields of labor were en- 
tered and cultivated which our founders never imag- 
ined. In the fourth decade the large fortunes accu- 
mulated during the Civil War, and the enormous 
66 



HENRY DISSTOX. 67 

growth of our city, offered not only free scope, but 
abundant means to carry on our work. Since 1875, 
from the growth of spiritism, materialism, and other 
forms of scepticism, Ave have had to contend manfully 
for a Biblical charity. The late Henry Disston, who 
for several years was a beloved member of our Board, 
and the founder of one of the largest saw manufac- 
tories in the world, took a deep interest in our work 
among the laboring classes. His penetrating mind saw 
the necessity for the Home Missionary Society among 
workmen. He felt that materialism could criticise 
and attempt to destroy the Christian scheme of benevo- 
lent effort, by all forms of labor and trade unions, but 
offered nothing to take the place of a permanent 
society for meeting human want and woe. 

He saw that our methods imparted temporary relief 
to mitigate pressing necessities, while we encouraged 
our beneficiaries to make fresh determination for self- 
support. As long as some persons are more shrew T d 
than others property will be unequally distributed, and 
as the industries of civilization are developed, the 
range of wealth and poverty will be increased. To 
prevent this inequality by destroying ownership is 
communism. This cuts the nerves of personal enter- 
prise and ruins society. The Home Missionary Soci- 
ety seeks to bridge over that gulf between rich and 
poor by homes, clothing, wholesome food, medicine, 
and medical assistance. 

Thus we are brought into constant contact with em- 
ployers and the laboring classes. The Bible honors 
the laborer. The patriarchs were herdsmen. Moses 
and David were called from following the sheep ; Gid- 
eon from the threshing-floor ; Elisha from the plough. 



68 EMPLOYEES AND EMPLOYED. 

Jesus was a carpenter ; four of his apostles were fish- 
ermen, one a publican, one a tent-maker. Laborers 
who study the Bible, attend cottage prayer-meetings, 
and hear missionaries do not become infidels or infidel 
agitators. The Bible utters its warnings to masters — 
" I will be a swift witness against him that oppresseth 
a hireling in his wages" — and teaches the laborer " to 
be obedient to them that are his masters according to 
the flesh, in singleness of heart, as unto Christ." 

We thereby are able to mitigate and relieve cases of 
overweening covetousness in employers as well as un- 
reasonable demands of the laborer. When mutual 
recrimination and violence are resorted to, we teach 
them that their interests are one. This led Mr. Diss- 
ton not only to take a deep personal interest in the 
plans and discussions of our Board, but also to con- 
tribute largely to their execution. We accomplish 
these results among the laboring classes by the estab- 
lishing and maintenance 'of Sabbath-schools and cot- 
tage prayer-meetings, by showing them that their 
religious privileges are sustained chiefly by capital, 
and that many corporations furnish us with money for 
books and kindred provisions for operatives. The 
girl, who stands looking at the spindles while she 
tends them, is taught that the piston manipulates the 
shuttles, just as her brother learns the same lesson at 
the lathe. Our agents and missionaries, by their cheer- 
ing, elevating, ennobling influences, show that the Gos- 
pel has a melting power to excite a fraternal spirit in 
both employers and employed. 

We have thus traced, far too imperfectly, the career 
of the Home Missionary Society in the City of Phila- 
delphia for half a century. We have shown how a few 



RETROSPECT. 69 

young men, feeling the necessity for individual effort 
and influence in evangelizing Philadelphia, first organ- 
ized this Society; then, with a simple spiritual piety, 
began their warfare with the spirit of the world, the 
flesh, and the devil, that, if by any means, they might 
save some. On the one hand they met a religion of 
taste and sentiment not opposed to the spirit of the 
world ; on the other stood sacerdotalism — vicarious re- 
ligion — invading the sole and eternal priesthood of 
Christ, a religion of forms and ceremonies, not opposed 
to the pride of life, while all around them were their 
fellow-citizens, many of them without an}' one to care 
for their souls. 

These young men believed, with the great mass of 
Protestants, that the work of redemption has always 
been carried on in the world's history by remarkable 
effusions of the Holy Spirit in special seasons of mercy. 
"With this earnest conviction, they at once began work 
in twelve districts, by as many committees, and with 
the Divine blessing left five prominent churches as the 
landmarks of their labors, with several mission-schools, 
to their successors. 

We have seen the glorious results which followed, 
when the Societv was enlarged by the admission of all 
the evangelical denominations to a representation in 
our Board of Managers, through the act of incorpora- 
tion in 1845 ; what power was given to the spread of 
the Gospel, — one hundred and twenty-five moral light- 
houses, first started as mission-schools, now as churches, 
for the most part, permanent life-giving forces in Phil- 
adelphia, with the system of cottage prayer-meetings, 
greatly enlarged by the efficiency of seven missionaries 
in the field; what energy was imparted to the relief 



70 SUMMARY— FAVOR WITH GOD. 

of the worthy poor, from the cradle to the grave, in all 
forms of practicable charity; giving counsel, encour- 
agement, and material assistance in health, medicines 
and visits in sickness, and Christian burial in death; 
what an extent was given to our glorious work for chil- 
dren, whereby over 3000 helpless, often homeless, youth 
of both sexes and all ages have been provided with 
good homes in Christian families, with regular trades 
or occupations, the privileges of a church or Sabbath- 
school, often both, and with prospects for usefulness 
and position in life impossible and inconceivable in 
their first estate. 

Such has been the work during half a century. We 
lay it before the citizens of Philadelphia and all friends 
of voluntary associations in behalf of the worthy poor. 
With the observation and experience of half a century 
we advance with confidence in the results of our work 
and in the claims of this Society to the earnest sup- 
port of all who are true patriots and seek the welfare of 
their fellow-men. There are two special considerations 
which embolden us, in expectation of their general 
acknowledgment by our friends and contributors. 

I. The history of the Home Missionary Society shows 
that we have found favor with God. The evidence of this 
fact is so conclusive to us, who for many years — some 
for a quarter, and one for half a century — have toiled 
and prayed and plead for the Society in private and 
before the great congregation, as well as in the public 
assemblies of our citizens ; who have borne the burden 
and heat of the day, and are now growing old; to us, 
I say, this evidence is so conclusive as to confirm all 
our impressions as to the useful character of the work. 
In the retrospect we have been prospered beyond our 



SPIRIT OF THE AGE. 71 

expectations by the presence and assistance of our 
Heavenly Father. In estimating the value of our work 
we look not only at the intrinsic importance of it in 
itself, but at the great crises in the history of our city 
when the Home Missionary Society has been able to 
meet the exigencies of the times. How often might it 
be said of this Society as of a poor wise man in Ecclesi- 
astes, who lived in a certain city besieged by a great 
king, who built great bulwarks against its walls, and 
yet that poor man by his wisdom delivered the city ! 
The Society has advanced in its work, if not always in 
one direction, still along the whole line there has been 
progress; and never was there a greater call for the 
prosecution of our various enterprises than at the pres- 
ent time. • May we not expect the continued sympathy 
and support of our fellow-citizens ? 

But there is another consideration still, of great im- 
portance, by which our hopes are roused. 

II. The emphasis with which the Most High, by the 
tendency of the times and the imperative wants of our city, is 
summoning all who seek God's glory among men to the dis- 
charge of their duty. What means this neAv state of 
things on our earth, these new movements in all human 
affairs, the new achievements in science and art, the 
new modes of communication, by which we move at 
fifty miles an hour over its surface, and speak to each 
other by the telegraph and telephone, as if within hail- 
ing distance ? Why these constant changes in the 
views of men and the modes of human life, whereby 
doors of entrance are open and barriers removed, 
knowledge, trade, and civilization advancing, all man- 
kind excited and moved as never before ? Is it not a 
sign from heaven that another scene is opening in the 



72 FINAL APPEAL. 

drama of history, for which our work in Philadelphia 
has prepared the way among us, — the triumph of 
Christianity among men, the world reclaimed and con- 
verted to Christ ? 

The same Jehovah rules in the spiritual as in the 
physical and temporal spheres of existence, that by 
means of the latter He may accomplish His plans in the 
former. Are these great changes not to move all good 
men to increased activity? Shall not the churches feel 
these movements ? Will not all men be quickened in 
their zeal by them ? The age favors evangelism, the 
relief of the poor, and the care of destitute children. 
The devoted men of our day — and nowhere more than 
in Philadelphia — are preaching, printing, and praying 
for the increase and invigoration of all forces and 
agencies which ennoble and elevate mankind. This 
new order of things among men fills us with courage 
and confidence in the final triumph of the business 
committed to our care for half a century. We believe 
that ere long the usefulness of the Home Missionary 
Society, if we are not weary in well-doing, will not 
only be acknowledged by God, but by all true patriots 
and benefactors of mankind. 



APPENDIX. 



CONSTITUTION (1835). 



ARTICLE I. 
This Association shall be called the " Home Missionary 
Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, for 
the City and County of Philadelphia." 

ARTICLE II. 

The object of this Society shall be to promote the exten- 
sion of the Redeemer's kingdom, in the city and suburbs of 
Philadelphia, by means of preaching, prayer, and exhorta- 
tion meetings ; as also the establishment of Sabbath-Schools, 
the distribution of Bibles, Testaments, Tracts, and other 
books of a religious nature. 

ARTICLE III. 

The business of this Society shall be conducted by 
twenty-five Managers, members of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, to be chosen annually, by the Society, in 
the month of April ; the said Managers to elect out of 
their own body a President, Vice-President, a Recording 
and Corresponding Secretary, Treasurer, and Book Agent. 

ARTICLE IV. 

At all meetings of the Society, and of the Board of 
Managers, the President, or in his absence the Vice-Presi- 

73 



74 CONSTITUTION 1835. 

dent, or if both be absent, such member as shall be chosen, 
shall preside. He shall sign all orders on the Treasurer. 

ARTICLE V. 

Section 1. The Recording Secretary shall keep fair and 
regular minutes of the proceedings of the Society and 
Board of Managers ; prepare and send notices of all meet- 
ings of the Society to the different Methodist Episcopal 
Churches in the City and Liberties ; notify the Managers 
of the Stated and Special Meetings, also countersign all 
orders on the Treasurer. 

Sec. 2. The business of the Corresponding Secretary 
shall be to conduct the correspondence of the Society, and 
report the same at each meeting of the Board. 

Sec. 3. The Treasurer shall give such security for the 
performance of his trust as shall be determined upon by 
the Board of Managers. He shall be prepared to make a 
statement of the balance on hand at each meeting of the 
Board, and to keep a register of the subscribers' names 
and places of residence ; also a list of donations in a sepa- 
rate book. 

Sec. 4. The Book Agent shall purchase and take 
charge of such Books, Tracts, etc., as the Board may di- 
rect, and shall supply the same as may be required. He 
shall render a fair account to the Board at each Stated 
meeting. 

ARTICLE VI. 

The Anniversary of this Society shall be held either in 
March, April, or May, as the Board may direct. 

ARTICLE VII. 

Section 1. The Board of Managers shall meet once in 
every month, or at the call of the Secretary, if requested 



CONSTITUTION 1835. 75 

by three members of the Board in writing. They may 
adopt such By-Laws to regulate their proceedings as shall 
not be inconsistent with the Constitution, and fill all vacan- 
cies that may occur during the year. They shall call a 
meeting of the Society once every three months, at which 
time they shall report their transactions, and the state of 
the funds ; and Public Meetings when and wherever it 
shall be deemed expedient by them. 

Sec. 2. They shall assign to the different Committees, 
with the advice of the Conference Missionary, their fields 
of labor, which Committees shall report monthly to the 
Board. The Conference Missionary shall be requested to 
report quarterly. 

Sec. 3. They shall also order such purchases of Books, 
Tracts, etc., as may be found necessary ; or make any other 
appropriation of the funds which the interests of the Soci- 
ety may require ; but in no case shall appropriations exceed 
the amount in the hands of the Treasurer. 

ARTICLE VIII. 

The Conference Home Missionary, being regularly ap- 
pointed by the Bishop or Bishops of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, shall be entitled to a seat in the Board of 
Managers. 

ARTICLE IX. 

Five members at all meetings of the Board of Mana- 
gers, and twelve at all meetings of the Society, shall con- 
stitute a quorum. 

ARTICLE X. 

Any person subscribing the sum of one dollar or up- 
wards per annum, payable quarterly, shall be a member of 
this Society; the payment of five dollars or upwards, at 
one time, shall constitute a life member. 



76 CONSTITUTION 1835. 



ARTICLE XI. 

This Constitution may be altered or amended at any 
Quarterly Meeting, with the concurrence of two-thirds of 
the members present, provided the proposed alteration be 
stated and delivered in writing to the Board of Managers, 
at least one month before said Quarterly Meeting. 



OFFIOEKS 



THE HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY 



in 1835. 



President. — J. M. Thomas. 
Vice-President. — George Loudenschlager. 
Recording Secretary. — C. P. Fessenden. 
Corresponding Secretary. — Orrin Rogers. 
Treasurer. — Thomas K. Peterson. 
Booh Agent. — John Wiall. 



Joseph T. Elsegood. 
Lambert Wilmer. 
John F. Rudolph. 
William C. Griffith. 
Henry CI egg. 
Joseph Thompson. 
James Beck. 
Charles Stackpole. 



Managers. 

Israel Jones. 
L. Dorphey. 
Henry Hay dock. 
John Street. 
John G. Smith. 
Peter Y. Calder. 
Daniel Beidelman. 
Washington Pedrick. 



77 



CONSTITUTION (1885). 



ARTICLE I. 



This Association shall be known by the name, style, 
and title of " The Home Missionary Society of the 
City of Philadelphia." And by that name, style, and 
title shall have perpetual succession, with power to have a 
common seal, and the same to change at pleasure, to make 
contracts relating to the Institution, to sue and be sued, to 
plead and be impleaded, and by that name, style, and title 
be capable of holding, purchasing, and taking any estate, 
real or personal, for the use of the corporation, with power, 
whenever deemed necessary, to sell, convey, or mortgage 
the same or any part thereof, provided the annual income 
of said estate, exclusive of annual contributions and the 
value of any real estate bought for the use of the Society 
shall not exceed twenty thousand dollars, nor be applied to 
any other purpose than that for which the Association is 
formed. 

ARTICLE II. 

Section 1. The objects of this Society shall be the 
spread of the Gospel and the relief of the poor, in such 
manner as shall be provided by its By-Laws. 

Sec. 2. The operations of this Association (so far as re- 
spects relief to the poor, etc.) shall be conducted without 
regard to the religious opinions of those who may have 
need of its aid. 
78 



constitution 1885. 79 

ARTICLE III. 

The annual contribution of five dollars will enable any 
one to become a member of this Society, and the payment 
of fifty dollars at any one time will constitute a life mem- 
bership ; and at any duly convened meeting of the Asso- 
ciation fifteen members shall constitute a quorum. 

ARTICLE IV. 

Section 1. The business of this Association shall be 
conducted by twenty-seven managers, who shall be chosen 
at the First Annual Meeting of the Association following 
the adoption of this Constitution. At the first meeting of 
the Board of Managers following they shall by lot divide 
themselves into three divisions, oue to serve for one year, 
one to serve for two years, and one to serve for three years; 
and at every subsequent Annual Meeting nine Managers 
shall be chosen to fill the places of the retiring portion of 
the Board. The annual election shall occur in the month 
of October of each year, at such time and place as the 
Board of Managers shall determine. 

Sec. 2. The Managers so chosen shall from time to time 
have power to elect from their own body a President, two 
Vice-Presidents, a Recording and a Corresponding Sec- 
retary, and a Treasurer, each to serve one year, or until 
their successors are elected. 

Sec. 3. They shall have power to employ such persons 
as may be necessary to carry out the object of the Society. 

Sec. 4. They shall have power to appoint an Executive 
and other committees, whose duties shall be defined by the 
By-Laws. 

.Sec. 5. The Stated Meetings of the Board shall be held 
at least once every three months, at such time and place as 



80 CONSTITUTION 1885. 

shall be determined by the By-Laws, and the Association 
shall meet annually in the month of October in each year, 
or oftener if it shall be necessary. 

ARTICLE V- 

It shall and may be lawful for the Managers of the 
Society, in their discretion, to receive any homeless or 
needy child or children, in order to rescue them from want 
or shame, and temporarily care for and furnish them with 
food, clothing, or shelter, and also to provide the means 
for imparting intellectual, moral, and religious instruction 
adapted to the culture of the ignorant and neglected under 
their care; and when children shall be voluntarily surren- 
dered to the care of said Managers by their father, or, in 
case of his death or absence, by their mother, or by their 
guardian or other person having the control of such chil- 
dren, it shall be lawful for said Managers to procure homes 
for and to place such children with persons of good moral 
character, to be cared for and trained for usefulness, and 
may, when in their discretion it shall appear proper, bind 
such children as apprentices, according to the laws of this 
Commonwealth, to such persons, to learn such trades and 
employments as in the judgment of the said Managers will 
be most conducive to the benefit and advantage of such 
children; and the said Managers shall have full power and 
authority to provide homes for or to bind such children, in 
their discretion, to and with such person or persons re- 
siding in or out of this Commonwealth as may apply 

therefor. 

ARTICLE VI. 

The Board of Managers shall adopt such By-Laws, 
Rules, and Regulations for the government thereof as they 
may deem necessary, provided that they shall not be in- 



CONSTITUTION 1885. 81 

consistent with the Constitution of the United States, the 
Constitution and laws of Pennsylvania, or this Charter. 

ARTICLE VII. 

Any alteration of this Constitution not inconsistent here- 
with may be made at a meeting of the Society, with the 
concurrence of two-thirds of the members present, pro- 
vided the proposed alterations be stated and delivered to 
the Board of Managers in writing at least one month be 
fore the meeting at which they are to be acted upon. 



OFFICERS AND BOARD OF MANAGERS, 



18 8 5. 



President — Thomas L. Gillespie. 
Vice-Presidents. — S. K. Shipley and S. G. Lewis. 
Recording Secretary. — William M. Capp, M.D. 
Corresponding Secretary. — Jos. H. Schenck, M.D. 
Treasurer. — William H. Lucas. 
Solicitor. — William H. Sutton. 

Members whose Term expires September 30, 1885. 



George H. Stuart. 
Hon. W. B. Hanna, D.C.L. 
William H. Sutton. 
Samuel E. Shipley. 
Joseph H. Schenck, M.D. 



Levi D. Brown. 
Samuel C. Perkins. 
Joseph B. Van Dusen. 
Edwin J. Howlett. 



Members whose Term expires September 30, 1886. 

William M. Wilson. j Joseph Thompson. 

H. E. Dwight, M.D., D.D. ' Samuel G. Lewis, 



Henry M. Kimmey. 
Horatio G. Kern. 



William Holloway, M.D. 
J. Lewis Crew. 



Members whose Term expires September 30, 1887. 



Thomas L. Gillespie. 
Andrew H. Miller. 
William Gulager. 
William M. Capp, M.D. 
William H. Lucas. 
82 



Solomon Smucker, Jr. 
John H. Watt. 
William Waterall. 
Eben C. Jayne. 



STANDING COMMITTEES OF THE BOARD. 



On Office. — William Waterall, Henry M. Kimmey, Wil- 
liam Holloway, M.D., Andrew H. Miller, William H. 
Lucas, Joseph H. Schenck, M.D., Joseph Thompson, 
Eben C. Jayne, William M. Capp, M.D. 

On Supplies. — Solomon Smucker, Jr., Levi D. Brown, 
Edwin J. Howlett. 

On Finance. — Samuel G. Lewis, John H. Watt, Horatio 
G. Kern. 

On Anniversary and Public Meetings. — Henry E. Dwight, 
M.D., D.D., William Holloway, M.D., Edwin J. How- 
lett, William Gulager, Levi D. Brown. 

On Publications and Printing. — William Holloway, M.D., 
William Waterall, William Gulager, Henry E. Dwight, 
M.D., D.D., William M. Capp, M.D. 

On Employment. — William Holloway, M.D., Joseph H. 
Schenck, M.D., Samuel E. Shipley, John B. Van Dusen, 
J. Lewis Crew. 

On Legacies. — Andrew H. Miller, Hon. W T illiam B. 
Hanna, D.C.L., Samuel C. Perkins. 

Auditors. — Horatio G. Kern and John H. Watt. 

Missionary. — John Barry. 

Visitor.— J. W. Field. 

General Agent. — Emanuel H. Toland. 

83 



OFFICERS AND MANAGERS WHO HAVE 
SERVED FROM 1835 TO 1885. 



1835. J. M. Thomas. 

1840. Orrin Eogers. 

1841. Samuel S. Cain. 

1842. S. W. Cade. 



Presidents. 

1 1843. James I. Boswell. 

1851. Chris. E. Spangler. 

1856. George H. Stuart. 

1 1875. Thomas L. Gillespie. 



Vice-Presidents. 



1839. Geo. Loudenschlager. 

1841. Joseph T. Morrison. 

1842. Elwood H. Stokes. 

1843. Edmund J. Yard. 
1845. William Coffin. 
1849. Chris. E. Spangler. 
1851 



George H. Stuart. 



1856. Edward H. Worne. 

1857. Matthew Newkirk. 
1860. Isaac K. Smith. 
1862. Alexander G. Cattell. 
1870. Thomas L. Gillespie. 

1874. Samuel R. Shipley. 

1875. Samuel G. Lewis. 



Treasurers. 



1835. Thomas K. Peterson. 
1842. Thomas T. Mason. 



1877. Andrew H. Miller. 
1882. William H. Lucas. 



Corresponding Secretaries. 



1835. Orrin Rogers. 
1841. Joseph T. Whitecar. 
1843. Benjamin Matthias. 



1845. John G. Miller. 
1874. Joseph H. Schenck. 



Recording Secretaries. 



1835. C. P. Fessenden. 
1840. P. K. Hoeflich. 
84 



1874. W. M. Capp, M.D. 



MANAGERS 1835-85. 



85 



Solicitors. 
1874. Hon.Wm.H. Sutton. 



1835. 
1835. 
1835. 
1835. 
1835. 
1835. 
1835. 
1835. 
1835. 
1835. 
1835. 
1835. 
1835. 
1835. 
1835. 
1835. 
1835. 
1835. 
1835. 
1835. 
1835. 
1835. 
1835. 
1838. 
1838. 
1841. 
1841. 
1841. 
1841. 



Managers. 
J. M.Thomas. J 841 

Geo. Loudenschlager. 1841, 



C. P. Fessenden. 
Orrin Rogers. 
Thomas K. Peterson. 
Joseph T. Elsegood. 
Lambert Wilmer. 
John F. Rudolph. 
William C. Griffith. 
Henry CI egg. 
Joseph Thompson. 
James Beck. 
Charles Stackpole. 
Israel Jones. 
L. Dorphey. 
Henry Haydock. 
John Street. 
John G. Smith. 
Peter Y. Calder. 
Daniel Beidelman. 
Washington Pedrick. 
William Barnes. 
R. T. Kensil. 
Rudolph K. Hoeflich. 
Thomas T. Mason. 
Zophar C. Howell. 
James Perry. 
William Bovard. 
Charles L. Orum. 



1841. 
1841. 
1841. 
1841. 
1841. 
1841. 
1841. 
1842. 
1842. 
1842. 
1842. 
1842. 
1842. 
1842. 
1842. 
1842. 
1842. 
1842. 
1842. 
1842. 
1842. 
1842. 
1842. 
1842. 
1842. 
1842. 
1842. 



Richard Jennings. 
John Hickman. 
Robert Maguire. 
Wendall W. Fraley. 
Thomas L. Smith. 
James Watts. 
Joseph T. Whitecar. 
Richard Woodrop. 
Charles McCall. 
Edmund S. Yard. 
George C. Kooken. 
George Smith. 
T. I. Byre, Jr. 
S. Ross. 
I. Colesbury. 
Samuel S. Cain. 
El wood H. Stokes. 
Alexander Coyle. 
Edmund J. Yard. 
John Hartley. 
Thomas H. Stephens. 
W. C. Poulson. 
Robert Jennings. 
S. W. Cade. 
Thomas Brewer. 
William Wilson. 
M. H. Treadwell. 
G. M. White. 
R. McGrath, M.D. 



86 



MANAGERS 1835-85. 



1843. Samuel W. Stockton. 1 1848. 

1843. Jacob Carrigan. j 1848. 

1843. George M. White. 1 1849. 

1843. Samuel Irwin. s 1849. 

1843. Samuel Ashmead. ' 1849. 

1843. Willoughby H. Reed. \ 1849. 

1843. Samuel Sappington. 1849. 

1843. James I. Bos well. 1850. 

1844. W. P. Hacker. 1850. 
1844. Thomas Percival. 1850. 
1844. James McCrea. j 1850. 
1844. John H. Githens. 1 1850. 

1844. David G. Walton. j 1851. 

1845. Robert Wilson. I 1851. 
1845. G. A. Shorjock. 1851. 
1845. Colson Heiskill. ; 1852. 
1845. Elihu D. Tarr. ; 1852. 
1845. Jonathan Mulford. 1 1852. 

1845. John Anspach, Jr. j 1852. 

1846. Wilson Dunton. 1852. 
1846. C. E. Spangler. 1852. 
1846. Chas. Wannemacher. 1852. 
1846. Eliashile Tracy. 1853. 
1846. George H. Stuart. 1853. 
1846. Thomas Harris. 1853. 
1846. Wilfred Hall. 1854. 
1846. George Fithian. 1854. 

1846. Edwin Booth. 1854. 

1847. Thomas Powers. 1854. 
1847. J. B. Longacre. 1854. 
1847. Robert Henderson. 1854. 
1847. William M. Muzzey. 1855. 
1847. John H. Githens. ' 1855. 



William Coffin. 
John Eckel. 
Joseph H. Hildeburn. 
William Raigoul. 
Francis N. Buck. 

A. H. Julian. 
Thomas S. Foster. 
J. G. Wilson. 
Joseph Walton. 
J. Sibley. 

T, Watson. 
Caleb Jones. 

B. A. Fahnestock. 
John M. Ford. 
Charles Harkness. 
John Tucker. 
John W. Thomas. 
A. T. Chur. 
George Nugent, Jr. 
Harry Conrad. 
William C. Ludwig. 
Joseph B.Vandusen. 
Lewis Audenreid. 
Isaac R. Smith. 
Thomas Clark. 
Daniel M. Fox. 
Robert Knight. 
John A. Brown. 
Benjamin Milnes. 
Joseph E. Hover. 
James Appleton. 
Charles Santee. 

I. S. Cummings. 



MANAGERS 1835-85. 



87 



1855. Samuel S. Shriver. 
1855. E. H. Worne. 
1855. James M. Billings. 
1855. Chas. H. Curnmings. 
1855. William N. Whitaker. 

1855. Joseph Maxfield. 

1856. Robert Shoemaker. 
1856. Jacob M. Johnson. 
1856. James B. Rodgers. 
1856. Matthew Newkirk. 
1856. T. Esmoude Harper. 
1856. Alexander T. Lane. 
1856. Thomas Pedrick. 

1856. H. M. Kimmey. 

1857. Dwight J. McCann. 
1857. Samuel Mullen. 
1857. Francis Bacon. 
1857. James Neal. 
1857. Hiram Miller. 
1859. James P. Butler. 
1859. James W. Carson. 

1859. D. W. C. Moore. 

1860. Henry L. Benner. 
1860. Robert P. King. 
1860. Thomas Potter. 

1860. John Wiest. 

1861. Samuel Work. 
1861. Alexander G. Cattell. 
1861. Robert Grigg. 

1866. Thomas L. Gillespie. 

1867. George W. Hill. 

1867. Jacob A. Gardner. 

1868. George B. Bains. 



1868. Alexander Whildin. 
1868. Rene Guillou. 
1868. James H. Eldridge. 

1868. Hon. Wm. B. Hanna, 

D.C.L. 

1869. Andrew Robeno, Jr. 

1869. Horatio G. Kern. 

1870. William M. Wilson. 
1870. Henry Disston. 
1870. Wm. M. Capp, M.D. 
1870. A. H. Franciscus. 
1870. Samuel G. Lewis. 
1870. Thomas T. Tasker. 
1870. Peter B. Simmons. 
1870. A. L. Kaub. 

1870. Theodore Bliss. 

1871. William J. Miller. 
1871. Caleb J. Milne. 
1871. George Illman. 
1871. H. H. Wilson. 
1871. R. P. Gillingham. 
1871. John H. Watt. 
1871. H. B. Lincoln. 

1871. I. S. Custer. 

1872. Andrew H. Miller. 
1872. John A. Stoddart, 

1872. Solomon Smucker, Jr. 

1873. T. R. Davis. 
1873. Hon. W. H. Sutton. 
1873. John A. Stoddart, 
1873. Samuel R. Shipley. 

1873. Wm. Holloway, M.D. 

1874. David C. Landis. 



88 



MANAGERS 1835-85. 



1874. Geo. W. Huntzinger. 1 1878. 

1874. J. H. Schenck, M.D. 1878. 

1875. E. A. Crenshaw. 1878. 
1875. William H. Lucas. 1879. 
1875. William Waterall. 1879. 
1875. William Gulager. 1879. 

1877. Henry E. D wight, 1879. 

M.D., D.D. 1 1883. 

1878. Lewis Thompson. j 1883. 



Eben C. Jayne. 
Joseph Thompson. 
Wm. M. Shoemaker. 
William L. Dubois. 
Levi D. Brown. 
Samuel C. Perkins. 
George R. Kellogg. 
Edwin J. Howlett. 
J. Lewis Crew. 



OUR MISSIONARIES : THEIR CAREER AND 
THEIR OFFICES. 



In 1834 three young men, known in the M. E. Church 
as "exhorters," felt deeply concerned at " the waste places 
throughout the city and county of Philadelphia." Their 
names were John Street, Thomas K. Peterson, and Lambert 
Wilmer. Of these Mr. Street soon went to South America, 
and was not actively identified with the H. M. S. until 
1837, when his name again appears on the Board of Man- 
agers. Mr. Street aspired to rise from his position as an 
" exhorter" to that of a " preacher's appointment," and not 
satisfied with one, " took up two under the Presiding Elder 
of the Philadelphia District." These were, one at Evans- 
burg, the other at Lumberville, Pennsylvania, being part 
of what was called the " Norristown Circuit." Rev. John 
A. Roach, D.D., was "taken from the Circuit" — i.e., Evans- 
burg and Lumberville — and "stationed at Norristown" in 
1836. Mr. Street "took his appointments at Evansburg 
and Lumberville, preached in those places one year, and 
received S80 for his services" A preacher under appoint- 
ment with wife and children on such a salary ! 

At the close of the ecclesiastical year the u Norristown 
Circuit applied to the Conference for Mr. Street to return." 
At the same meeting of the Philadelphia Conference in 
1837 his name was presented by St. George's Church of 
Philadelphia as a travelling preacher, and he was recom- 
mended by the " Quarterly Conference" of Evansville and 

89 



90 MISSIONARIES: THEIR OFFICES. 

Lnmberville Circuit." Presented by Rev. James Smith, 
Presiding Elder, and urged by Rev. Dr. John P. Durbin, 
Rev. James B. Heageny, and Rev. Robert Gerry, his request 
was approved. Bishop Hedding was anxious that he should 
be received, but " as the Philadelphia Conference was crowded 
at that time, Mr. Street, with his wife and four children, if re- 
ceived, would, have afflicted other ministers in the Conference" 

Misery loves company, and John Street's application was 
withdrawn at the same time with that of Mr. David Kol- 
lock, a well-known citizen of Southwark, who, with his 
brother Street, remained efficient and useful ministers of 
the Gospel in Philadelphia in spite of their "rejected ad- 
dresses." What was a real loss to some church " in the 
Philadelphia Circuit" was a great gain to the Home Mis- 
sionary Society of the City of Philadelphia. Few men 
could have filled, or did fill, the sphere of usefulness in 
which Rev. John Street so ably and faithfully served for 
nearly twenty years " on a stated salary of $500 annually, 
if he could collect it" The preceding pages show what his 
work was and how he was peculiarly honored of God. 
His fearless and earnest proclamation of the truth, his ten- 
der sympathy with the poor, and his tireless energy in the 
service of Christ will not be forgotten for generations yet 
unborn. During the last twenty-five years he has been 
remarkably successful in business, and as he approaches 
fourscore with a fine family of sons and daughters, he can 
say with the Psalmist, " I have not seen the righteous for- 
saken or his seed begging bread." 

In 1850, after Mr. Street had served continuously for 
twelve years as the sole Missionary and Agent, Rev. Roland 
T. Kensil was appointed his assistant, and served till 
1857. In 1853, John P. Arrison was added to the list of 
missionaries, and served as such till 1859, when he became 



MISSIONARIES: THEIR OFFICES. 91 

General Agent, which office he held till 1866. At the 
time of his death he had been connected with the Society 
thirteen years. Eev. Thomas S. Durham, James Nolen, 
William Brobston, Albert G. Roland, were all appointed 
in 1856, and all served till 1857, when Rev. S. W. Ziegler 
took the place of William Brobston, and remained till 
1861. In 1855 and 1856 nearly $3000 annually were 
paid for missionary salaries, as the mission-schools and 
location of destitute children demanded the outlay. In 
1866, Wilmer W. Walter was chosen Missionary, and re- 
mained till 1881. During these fifteen years Mr. Walter 
was largely engaged in the distribution of trust funds 
committed to our care for certain beneficiaries. 

On the retirement of Mr. Walter, Mr. John Barry took 
his place as Missionary, and Mr. J. W. Field as Visitor of 
our children, who have rendered excellent service in the 
spheres of labor committed to their care. Messrs. Rowland 
and Kensil, well known for their devotion to the poor, 
were also employed by the Philadelphia Tract Society. 
The self-denying labors of these men, especially in the 
sphere of mission-schools and the indenture of destitute 
children, have been already referred to. They deserve the 
commendation of every public-spirited citizen and philan- 
thropist for their work in all the various departments of 
the Home Missionary Society. 

Rev. Emanuel H. Toland, General Agent of the Home 
Missionary Society, was elected to that office in July, 1866, 
and. began his duties in October of the same year. He 
had previously been connected with the Union Benevo- 
lent Association, Sabbath-School Association, The Southern 
Home for Destitute Children, and the Ladies' Union City 
Mission for ten years, dividing his time among them. 
For twenty years he has been entirely devoted to the 



92 MISSIONARIES: THEIR OFFICES. 

interests of the Home Missionary Society. Born and 
trained in Philadelphia, of a well-known and excellent 
family, he has been connected with the M. E. Church for 
almost half a century, and as a local preacher and ordained 
deacon and elder for nearly forty years. 

At the earnest solicitation of Mr. Thomas T. Mason, 
who for thirty-three years was our Treasurer, he resigned 
all the positions which he had held to become our Agent. 
Owing to the protracted sickness and death of Mr. John 
P. Arrison, a devoted layman of the Presbyterian Church, 
who had served the Society acceptably for ten years, the 
office was vacant for eight months, and the Treasury nearly 
exhausted. From this cause the amount of money re- 
ceived in 1866 was only $4634, of which $720 was re- 
ceived by collections from the churches. In 1867 the 
amount received was over $7000, and increased steadily in 
some years until it amounted to twelve or thirteen thou- 
sand dollars. 

For fifteen years previous to 1868 the H. M. S. had 
rented rooms at 507 North Street, between Market and 
Arch Streets, at 42 West Fifth Street, at 531 North Street, 
and at 25 East North Street. During the agency of Rev. 
Mr. Street the Society's office was at his residence, 157 
Old York Road. But in 1869 the H. M. S. purchased 
the house No. 533 Arch Street for a permanent residence, 
which they Tiave occupied since that date. A bequest of 
$5000 had been received from the estate of the late John 
Wright, Esq., for the purchase of real estate, and invested 
in United States gold bonds. The additional sum of $2100 
had also been collected for the purchase of the property. 
The mortgage on the property has been paid by subsequent 
bequests. 



ANNIVERSARY SPEAKERS FROM 1835 

TO 1885. 



1835. Kev. Dr. Durbin. 

1836. Bishop Hedding. 

1837. Rev. J. Woolson. 

1838. Rev. Matthew Simpson. 

1839. Rev. Dr. Durbin. 

1840. Rev. John McClintock. 

1841. Rev. Anthony Atvvood. 

1842. Rev. John N. Maffit. 

1843. Rev. John Chambers, D.D. 

1844. Rev. Dr. Durbin. 

1845. Rev. Thomas H. Stockton. 

1846. Rev. Dr. Dales. 

1847. Rev. John Chambers, D.D. 

1848. Rev. Dr. J. F. Berg. 

1849. Rev. Dr. Willetts. 

1850. Rev. Dr. C. A. Wadsworth. 

1851. Rev. Dr. Nicholas Murray. 

1852. Rev. D. W. Bartine, D.D., Rev. Mr. Myer, Rev. 

William D. Regan. 

1853. Rev. J. Chambers, D.D., Rev. A. A. Willetts, D.D. 

1854. Rev. Dr. Jenkins, Rev. Dr. Dales, Rev. Mr. Rob- 

inson. 

1855. Rev. J. W. Smith, D.D., Rev. J. B. Dales, D.D. 

1856. Rev. J. Ley burn, D.D., Rev. D. W. Bartine, D.D. 

1857. Rev. A. Cook man, Rev. R. Jeffrey, Rev. F. Moore. 

1858. Rev. Wm. J. R. Taylor, Rev. Kingston Goddard. 

1859. Rev. Dr. Wm. T. Brantley, Rev. J. W. Craycraft. 



1860. Rev. J. W. Jackson, Rev. B. T. Noakes. 



93 



94 ANNIVERSARY SPEAKERS. 

1861. Eev. Dr. E. S. Henson, George H. Stuart, Esq. 

1862. Rev. Dr. E. E. Adams, Eev. Mr. Chaplain. 

1863. Rev. Dr. Thomas Brainerd, Rev. R. Jeffrey, Rev. 

F. Moore. 

1864. Rev. Mr. Colton, Rev. Dr. Adams. 

1865. Rev. Dr. Wylie. 

1866. Rev. G. D. Boardman, D.D., Rev. Mr. Suydam. 

1867. Rev. J. Spencer Kennard, D.D., Rev. A. J. Ky- 

nett, D.D. 

1868. Ex-Governor Pollock, Rev. J. Neill, Rev. A. A. 

Willetts, D.D. 

1869. Rev. Dr. D wight, Rev. T. J. Wylie, D.D., Rev. 

John Ruth. 

1870. Rev. Alexander Reed, D.D., Rev. J. H. Torrence, 

Rev. J. Neil. 

1871. Rev. H. C. McCook, D.D., J. W. Custis. 

1872. Rev. H. A. Cleveland. 

1873. Rev. George J. Mingins, Ex-Governor Pollock. 

1874. Rev. Dr. Harper, Rev. Dr. Willitts. 

1875. Rev. Dr. Dwight, Samuel R. Shipley, Esq. 

1876. Rev. Dr. McVickar, Rev. J. A. D. Hughes, and 

Dr. Henson. 

1877. Rev. Dr. Currie, Rev. H. Westwood. 

1878. Rev. Jacob Todd, D.D. 

1879. Rev. James Morrow, Rev. J. W. Smith, D.D., Rev. 

Dr. Willetts. 

1880. Rev. Dr. T. T. Everett, Rev. J. R. Ashton. 

1881. Rev. Dr. Colfelt, Rev. Dr. Todd. 

1882. Rev. Reese F. Alsop, D.D., Rev. Dr. Tiffany. 

1883. Rev. Dr. A. J. Kynett, Rev. Dr. Robbins, Rev. 

Dr. G. D. Boardman. 

1884. Rev. Drs. Vernon and Hoyt, Rev. W. D. Roberts. 



IN MEMORIAL* 



The intelligence of the death of Rudolph K. Hoef_ 
LICH, for nearly forty years the Secretary of this Society, 
and one of its original founders, and always, during his 
connection with it, one of its most constantly devoted and 
energetic supporters, having been announced to this Board, 
the following minute w r as directed unanimously to be spread 
upon the record : 

Resolved, That the Board of Managers of the " Home 
Missionary Society of the City of Philadelphia" desires to 
record its sense of high appreciation and esteem for the 
noble and Christian character, the integrity of life, and the 
devotion to usefulness — manifested in his untiring attention 
to the management, as one of its Board of Managers, of 
the affairs of this Society — of the late Rudolph K. Hoef- 
lich. 

In his death is recognized the passing to his reward of a 
good man ; and they feel called upon to imitate him in all 
right living, even as he imitated our Great Exemplar. 

Testimonial Resolutions by the Board of Managers 
of the Home Missionary Society of the City of Philadel- 
phia on the death of Thomas T. Mason : 

Whereas, The all-wise Creator has in His overruling 
providence called from labor to rest our beloved friend and 
fellow-laborer, Thomas T. Mason, therefore be it 



* Mr. Hoeflich died March 7, 1877, aged fifty-nine. 

95 



96 IN MEMORIAM. 

Resolved, That we, the Officers and Managers of the 
Home Missionary Society of the City of Philadelphia, rev- 
erently bowing to the authority of Him who has the issues 
of life and death in His hands, do nevertheless sensibly 
realize the great loss our Society has sustained in the death, 
of a valuable member, one who helped to advance the 
Society, and who for thirty -three years served faithfully as 
its Treasurer, watching over its funds and general interests 
with a fidelity that urgently calls for these feeble words of 
honest praise. And be it further 

Resolved, That we feel it to be our duty to bear testi- 
mony that Mr. Mason, in the discharge of his duties as 
Manager, Treasurer, and recently as General Collector of 
our Society, did all willingly and cheerfully in the spirit 
and name of his blessed Master, who has now called him 
home. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be presented 
to the family, and that the Board attend the funeral in a 
body from his late residence, No. 419 Arch Street, on 
Monday afternoon, the 14th instant, at three o'clock. 

Dr. Henry E. D wight at the Anniversary held at the 
Spring Garden M. E. Church, delivered a touching address, 
in which he referred feelingly to the death of Mr. Thomas 
T. Mason, a member of the Board of Managers. Mr. 
Mason was one of the original founders of the Society ; for 
forty-two years a constant and active member of the Board 
of Managers; for thirty-three years Treasurer, and for sev- 
eral years its Collector. The pneumonia which caused his 
death was caught while he was collecting funds for the 
Society, at the advanced age of seventy-two years. 



TESTIMONY OF THE PRESS. 



[From the Public Ledger.] 

The Home Missionary Society of the City of 
Philadelphia — Its Origin and Objects. — The Home 
Missionary Society of the City of Philadelphia was organ- 
ized about the year 1835 by a number of young men, its 
objects then being the distribution of tracts to the large 
number of boatmen who then crowded along the Schuyl- 
kill River, and the holding of cottage prayer-meetings in 
the narrow courts and streets, especially in neighborhoods 
that were almost destitute of churches. One noted place 
was known as Taylor's Alley dance-house, and here hun- 
dreds of dissolute and abandoned persons received religious 
instruction and were converted, afterwards connecting them- 
selves with churches of different denominations. 

The first business-meeting was held at 127 Old York 
Road, above Button wood, in a small frame house. In the 
year 1837, Rev. John Street took charge of the Mission, on a 
salary of §500 per year, and this amount was raised by one- 
dollar subscriptions. After a few years it was found neces- 
sary to afford temporal relief to the poor from the above- 
mentioned house to hundreds of applicants. Most of the 
early missionaries were in part associated with the Tract 
Society, from which they obtained their tracts, and in their 
daily visits they would often find many cases of extreme 
suffering and want, which they were enabled to relieve 
through the Home Missionary Society. 1845 was a mem- 

7 97 



98 TESTIMONY OF THE PRESS. 

orable year with the Society, when it was incorporated, 
embracing in its management gentlemen of various denom- 
inations, and this feature it has retained ever since. 

From the beginning of the Society it has sought to 
ameliorate the condition of the poor of the entire city by 
giving them temporal and spiritual relief, and in every 
possible way to elevate the unfortunate, to comfort and 
strengthen the weak, and to provide for the destitute. The 
sick and dying have been visited and provided with 
physicians and medicines, and strangers have been shel- 
tered, fed, and clothed by it. Wanderers have been re- 
claimed, and transportation furnished to thousands who 
desired to reach distant homes and friends, and such as 
were found needing hospital care were sent there. Desti- 
tute and neglected children have been removed from sur- 
roundings of vice, wretchedness, and want, and placed 
under the auspices of the Society in good homes in the 
country. Over 3000 have thus been cared for, and have 
grown up to maturity, becoming respectable and useful 
members of society. 

This organization was one of the first agencies that 
undertook this class of charitable work aside from the 
Guardians of the Poor. The various reports of the agents 
during the forty-two years of the Society's existence abun- 
dantly show the utility and importance of this part of its 
operations. The officers relate many instances of children 
who through their efforts and the influence of the Society 
have succeeded well in life. 

The Society has also been the almoner of many of our 
wealthy citizens in helping needy applicants and also in- 
vestigating cases that have been brought to their notice. 

It may be interesting to know the manner in which 
applicants obtain relief. A needy person presents herself 



TESTIMONY OF THE PRESS. 99 

to one of the contributors or at the office of the Society, 
No. 533 Arch Street, and, after making known her wants, 
receives a card, which she hands to the Missionary, John 
Barry, or to the General Agent, Emanuel H. Toland. 
The latter's district is south of Market Street, and the 
former's is north of that thoroughfare. The man in whose 
district her residence is, visits it, and if her story is found 
to be true, the party who gave her the card is promptly 
notified, and she is at the same time supplied with what- 
ever necessaries she may require. In this way applicants 
deserving of help have been furnished with coal, groceries, 
shoes, clothing, bedding, medicines, stoves, furniture, and 
in fact with whatever the needy condition required. In 
this way, during the past fiscal year, 12,639 families have 
been relieved in one manner or another. One thing 
should also be noted, and that is that no hungry person is 
permitted to leave the office of the Society without re- 
ceiving proper help. Impostors, as a matter of course, 
often turn up, but the card system has aided greatly in 
their detection, and in preventing their continued impo- 
sition upon the public. The Society is now assisting the 
managers of the Seashore House at Atlantic City in visiting 
and examining all applicants for admission to that insti- 
tution. 



VOICES FROM THE PULPIT. 



Rev. Dr. Colfelt: " And this is the grand encomium 
that I would pass on this Society. With a report like that 
it can never be said that this is a charitable society, but 
there is no charity in it. With gifts recorded in tons, 
rather than in pounds, the hand of detection is mantled 
in the hand of charity." 

Rev. Dr. Todd : " God's poor are our brothers, and 
God's storehouse is the common place of supply for us 
both. If we have been intrusted for the time with the 
keys, we at the same time have been commanded by our 
Lord ' to be ready to distribute/ not grudgingly nor of 
necessity, for God ' loveth a cheerful giver.' " 

Rev. Dr. Alsop : " This Home Missionary Society under- 
takes to visit with bread in one hand and the truth in the 
other. Its motto is not like that of some other societies, — 
1 Send her away, for she crieth after us,' — for this Society 
remembers the promise and the prophecy, 'The poor ye 
have always with you.' Hence widows and children have 
learned to call it blessed. It asks for your sympathy and 
aid that it may go on in its blessed and blessing work. 
Shall we help it, and so share its benediction ?" 

Rev. Dr. Tiffany : " Have we not abundant reason to 
bless God for the existence of such a society, and that He 
has continued it for nearly half a century of active useful- 
ness ? Is it not a privilege to encourage these Managers 
and their agents in their self-denial and devotion, and to 
say in our petitions at the mercy-seat, ' May God bless the 
efforts of The Home Missionary Society, and crown its 
labors with His own blessing' ?" 
100 



3/ 

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